


Season Zero

by RosalindHawkins



Series: Rock Bottom [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Angstshipping - Freeform, Blackmail, Broken Families, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brothers, Card Games, Character Death, Chess, Death-T, F/M, Family, Forced Prostitution, Hamilton References, High School, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, KaibaCorp, M/M, Monster World, Past Child Abuse, Prostitution, Rape, Sexual Abuse, Teen Angst, Wintershipping - Freeform, puppyshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:14:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 58,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7590577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosalindHawkins/pseuds/RosalindHawkins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Seto and Mokuba still lived with their father? What if Joey's parents never got divorced? What if Ryou's mother and sister hadn't died? What if Noah Kaiba hadn't been hit by a car? What if Marik never killed his father? What if Priest Seth's soul had been sealed away in the Millennium Rod?</p><p>A total rewrite of canon events based on these premises, focused on character psychology and gritty alternatives to the clean dubbed anime. Season Zero includes the acquisition of the primary Millennium Items.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Corrupt](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/241693) by A Thief A Pharaoh A Priest. 



**Season Zero: Millennium what-now?**

* * *

Seto held Mokuba tightly in his arms, his hands clamped over the child's ears as Mokuba squeezed his eyes shut, willing away their present reality. As they huddled together in the corner of their small closet, the doors as closed as he could make them, Seto tried to mentally block out the sound of his father's drunken tirade as he pounded his fists on the door to their bedroom. Their father had never been the same after their mom died, and he was a hardcore alcoholic by now. He couldn't hold down a job for more than a month, but Seto gave him a bit credit for trying. Still, this wasn't a great situation for them to be in. His father drained their money by spending it on booze so that he could get wasted when he got off of work, and it was only the fact that Seto worked and put all his money into supporting them that kept them paying the rent on time. As their father cursed, Seto kissed the top of Mokuba's head and held him even more tightly, closing his own eyes as he waited for the alcohol-induced rage to come to an end.

When it finally did and their father stumbled clumsily away to his own bedroom, Seto gently released Mokuba and pushed the folding closet door open. He lifted his trembling little brother in his arms and carried him to the twin bed they shared, tucking the child in before joining him and putting an arm around his small form.

"Is it really over?" the raven-haired child whispered, eyes wide with fear.

"Yes, Mokuba, it's over," he whispered reassuringly. "Now go to sleep. You know I'll always keep you safe." After maybe fifteen minutes, the smaller child had finally slipped into full sleep. Seto couldn't sleep, however. He was too worried, despite how tired he was. It was difficult to balance work, high school, paying rent, and taking care of his brother. At least he was able to save scraps of his father's paycheck for buying food and other necessities. If his father _had_ been spending the entirety of his paychecks on booze, Seto would need to get a full-time job and probably drop out of high school. As much as he hated the idea of dropping out—he _did_ have plans for his future after all—he'd drop out it if it became necessary to secure Mokuba's wellbeing.

There were other things he could do for money if he really needed to, of course, and if he were a less scrupulous person: he could charge dumb jocks for doing their homework so they could pass their classes and stay on their teams; he could become a thief or a pickpocket; he could sell drugs out of his locker or on the street; he could even—he shuddered to think of it—sell _himself_. If he were desperate and lacked all sense of honor, he could do those things, and he probably _would_ do those things if it became necessary for keeping himself and Mokuba alive. However, he _did_ have a sense of honor and self-respect, and he did intend to teach those things to his little brother. He intended to teach his brother to accept nothing but the best from himself, just like Seto.

Only the most extreme circumstances could force him to abandon his sense of self-respect or tempt him into such unsavory employ. Reminders of that lifestyle surrounded him; they couldn't afford to live anywhere else and resided in the scummiest corner of Domino City, which meant that there were call-girls and crack-heads down every alley and on every corner. It was why he never let Mokuba go anywhere alone, and why he never let him go out at night unless it was absolutely necessary. He always told himself that breaking the law absolute rock bottom, and as long as he didn't sink that low, there was still a chance for him to have a good future.

Perhaps some people would think that he was missing out on things, like the supposed joys of friends, family, and youth. He would scoff at anybody who tried to tell him so.

He didn't need friends to distract him. He preferred keeping his life private; it wasn't anybody else's business that he was the primary caregiver for his small, broken family or that his father was a hopeless alcoholic.

As for youth, there was one game that Seto was fixated with: Duel Monsters. He scrounged together what loose change he could and set it aside for the purpose of buying more cards. He was good at the game, excellent at concocting devastating strategies. His main problem was acquiring the cards he needed to make the strategies work. He used his cleverness to trade up, though; he found people with cards that he wanted who valued his current cards more than he did. Then he would repeat the process indefinitely until he'd traded up the chain pretty far, far enough that he could feel confident he'd been wise to take the time to trade up instead of wasting money by buying the card directly. His goal was to assemble a power deck of rare cards, a deck that was invincible and unstoppable. It didn't discourage him that it would take months, maybe even years, for him to achieve this.

As for family, he enjoyed Mokuba's company enough to make up for all the other family he lacked. To say that he lived for his little brother would be an understatement; in their own ways, they adored each other. Seto knew that if his father ever got reported to child services, he and his brother would be taken away and put into the foster care system, probably getting separated in the process. If he could just keep this up until he was eighteen, they'd be in the clear. Then he could claim guardianship of his brother and they could move out of the apartment they shared with their father to somewhere safer. He'd vowed to always protect Mokuba, and there was nothing in the world that would stop him from doing so. Neither heaven nor hell could keep Seto from his brother, especially if Mokuba was in danger.

* * *

Four months later, Seto was picking his clothes up off the floor, dressing hurriedly as an envelope of cash was tossed onto the floor in front of him. He snatched it up as well, keeping his eyes down as sickening shame flooded his bruised, bony body.

"Hurry up and get out, you mutt," said the tall, broad man who'd tossed him the envelope as he lit himself a new cigar. "Same time and place next week."

Seto bowed his head, biting back the angry outburst that burned within his mind and instead yanked off the dog collar around his neck to toss it on the floor. "Yes, Master Kaiba."


	2. Rain

As Seto stepped out into the rain and popped the collar of his jacket, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and began to walk towards Ryou's house to pick up Mokuba. As his hair quickly became soaked with the heavy drizzle of rain, he contemplated how he'd come to this state of things.

Three months ago, his own father had gotten fired (yet again) and finally turned to drugs. In order to get more money to buy weed, he'd started gambling the cash he had left, and the financial stress on Seto had nearly doubled. He'd started working as many hours as possible, shorting himself on sleep almost every night of the week. They were truly pinching pennies to make ends meet, and when things were that tight, Seto always made sure that Mokuba was taken care of before anything else. He made sure Mokuba was fed before he himself ate, made sure that Mokuba got his homework done and checked before doing his own.

With all the hours that Seto was working, and with their father in the state that he was in, he couldn't afford to let Mokuba go home from school alone to their apartment, where their dad would be either high, drunk, or both. That was when Seto asked his classmate, Ryou Bakura, about watching Mokuba after school for him. After all, Ryou's sister Amane was in Mokuba's class at the middle school, which made it convenient for him to do so. Of course, Seto paid Ryou for watching his brother. He didn't expect charity, after all, and he would refuse to accept it if it was offered.

Of course, Ryou wasn't the only one in Seto's class with a younger sibling in Mokuba's class, but he'd be damned before he asked that arrogant rich bastard Joey Wheeler to look after his younger brother. He scowled as he thought about his classmate, the one who sauntered around like he owned the place, letting his big mouth run to no end. He and Seto had gotten into more than one fight over the years (in no small part because Joey was a bully and Seto could never stand to let him get away with it), and Seto doubted that their most recent fight would be the last to go down before they graduated. Their rivalry ran deep, rooted in their fundamentally clashing personalities. His sister Serenity was a sweet enough kid, and how she was like that when her brother was such a prick, Seto would never understand.

Seto had chosen Ryou to watch his brother because he respected him. He was a good student, a good brother, and even a good duelist. He was perhaps the closest thing Seto had to a friend. Of course, he would never tell Ryou the state of affairs at home, and he'd sworn Mokuba to secrecy years ago, yet he still felt like Ryou suspected what was really going on. That was the most unnerving thing about his classmate: he could let himself become invisible in a group of people, and then you'd look up and there he'd be, staring right into your soul with those big brown eyes of his.

Seto's sneakers had soaked through with water from the dirty puddles by now, but he was grateful for the chill of the rain. It helped to numb the numerous aches that covered his body. He felt that familiar, gut-wrenching twist of guilt as he remembered how he'd gotten to where he was now. It had been a little over a month after his father had taken up weed and gambling when he'd been approached by a pimp on the streets while walking home. At first, he'd simply been broaching the subject and subtly offering Seto a position. When Seto had turned him down flat, a couple of buff thugs had taken him into an alleyway and started to beat him up. Apparently, a particularly rich client was demanding a tall, blue-eyed, brunette teenage boy, but the pimp was low on supply. Thus, his need for Seto's cooperation.

"You've got a little brother, don't you?" the fiend had said with a sly grin as his lackeys held Seto's arms behind his back, the teen forced onto his knees as blood trickled down his chin. Seto had snarled fiercely at the man, who had chuckled at him mirthlessly. "Wouldn't you just hate it if something bad happened to him?"

His words had made Seto reluctantly submissive. "Lay a finger on him, and I swear I'll murder you," Seto had growled savagely, even as some of the tension left his body and he ceased to fight the arms that restrained him.

"If you just do as I say, your brother will be fine," he'd promised. So far, he'd kept his promise, though Seto had hated that he could be manipulated like that. He'd been forced to break a promise of his own in the process: he'd promised himself he'd never be a prostitute, but he'd also promised himself that he'd do anything he could to protect Mokuba. Of course, Mokuba had to come first, even at the price of his own dignity.

That was what had brought him to Gozaburo Kaiba's office on the top floor of KaibaCorp Headquarters every Thursday night. He was one of the regulars Seto had to put up with. There were other regulars as well as one-timers, and Seto had to work every night, which meant that oftentimes, Mokuba had fallen asleep at Ryou's house before Seto finally came to pick him up. Perhaps the arrangement would have bothered Ryou's parents if they lived more of a normal life, but Ryou's father was an archaeologist often away on business and Ryou's mother was a nurse who worked night shifts at the local children's hospital. She was always home when her children came home from school with Mokuba, but she was always gone by the time Seto came to get his little brother. Seto thought it was a good thing for Mokuba to be around _a_ mother since he lacked a mother of his own.

At least it paid well enough for him to take care of Mokuba and their dad and not get evicted from their apartment. It was also enough money for Seto to buy painkillers in bulk. He needed them in order to fake in front of Mokuba and everybody else that he was perfectly fine, that he wasn't covered in bruises, that his ass wasn't aching permanently since he'd started this new "job." But no matter how well it paid, he planned on leaving it the second he could find something equally capable of supporting them without being illegal or degrading. He hated what he did, but he'd do what he had to do to keep his brother safe. He'd always do whatever it took to protect his little brother.

As he stepped up to the front door of the Bakura household and knocked, he took a deep breath and straightened up, though it was excruciating to do so. Ryou answered the door promptly, looking surprised when he saw that Seto was soaked.

"Oh my, I didn't realize that the rain had gotten so bad," Ryou exclaimed. "Do you want to come inside and dry off a bit while I get your brother?"

"No, thanks," Seto answered politely with a faint smile. He'd just drip water all over the floors.

"Can I at least loan you an umbrella for the walk home?" Ryou offered, looking worried for him. He didn't wait for an answer, knowing that Seto would turn it down automatically. Mokuba scurried up to the door, then, carrying his backpack.

"Didn't I tell you to bring your raincoat with you to school today?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow at the raven-haired child. Mokuba toed the floor sheepishly and Seto sighed. "Don't worry about it, kiddo," he said, taking off his jacket and giving it to his brother, who pulled on the oversized garment. As Seto shouldered his brother's backpack and Mokuba zipped his brother's jacket closed, Ryou came back with the umbrella, handing it to Seto with his left hand while Seto reached to shake his hand with his right, passing him the money in his palm.

"Thanks for watching him so late, and thanks for the umbrella," he said. "I'll give it back to you at school tomorrow," he promised. Ryou's eyes looked a little sad as he accepted the money without looking at it, pocketing the cash. It was their ritual, and while Ryou found it to be a bit of a farce, he wasn't going to argue with Seto's stubborn pride.

"Have a safe walk home," Ryou called as he waved goodbye from the front door. Mokuba, being carried on Seto's hip as he carried the open umbrella for the both of them, waved goodbye to Ryou in return. The white-haired Brit sighed and closed the front door, glad that he'd already gotten Amane to bed. She was observant, like him, and she might have mentioned how exhausted the other teen had looked. Ryou himself hadn't missed the slight, unnatural shift in Seto's gait as he walked away, the pained wince as he had lifted Mokuba's backpack and then Mokuba. He wondered how much longer he should wait before he tried to ask him about it. Confrontation wasn't Ryou's strong suit, though he was excellent at understanding other's problems. He was the perfect confidante, but he wasn't great at staging interventions. He'd never tried before, but he was getting more worried about Seto by the day, and he was willing to set his own discomforts aside for Seto's wellbeing.

Maybe he'd ask Yugi for help. Seto and Yugi knew each other from when Seto used to play Duel Monsters with them during lunch, and from the times that Seto had stepped up to defend the shorter teen from Joey's bullying. Seto always did homework during lunch now, but Ryou could tell that Seto missed the duels. There was a hunger in his eyes that Ryou could only describe as the hunger of ambition, the drive to rise above the present to something higher. Seto was incredibly intelligent, Ryou knew without a doubt, and he was a hard worker. So what held him back if he was so hungry for greatness?


	3. Flinch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Text in bold denotes quotes from/allusions to the musical "Hamilton."

By the time they got home, Seto was still fairly wet from the driving rain, but he was appreciably less soaked than he would have been without the umbrella. It was late enough that their father was still out, but also late enough that Seto put Mokuba to bed as soon as they got home. Then he sat down at the kitchen table to do his calculus homework after swallowing three acetaminophen pills. There were at least two times that he almost fell asleep at the table, but he jerked himself awake and forced himself to complete the assignment. It was well after one in the morning when he did and could finally put his school things away for the night.

As he changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants to sleep in, he hissed at the sting of rough cotton rubbing against the fresh welts on his back. Mr. Kaiba was the only one of his customers to be so… extreme in his preferences; unfortunately, he'd been the one requesting a whore of Seto's coloring, so it was impossible for Seto to be free of him. He flopped onto the mattress on the floor next to his bed.

Mokuba had been sleeping with Seto in his room for years, not out of necessity, but because he was too scared to sleep alone. However, they were both growing to be too big for Seto's twin bed, so last week Seto had finally gotten around to dragging the mattress from Mokuba's bed into his own room and setting it up on the floor for himself. Mokuba had protested to having his older brother on the floor, but Seto had insisted that his limbs were too long for him to feel comfortable in the bed anyways. He shivered a little as he pulled the blankets over himself, the rain pounding against the window more gently now. He closed his eyes and was asleep within seconds. He was tired enough that it took no effort for him to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Seto woke up at 5:30 sharp, not because of an alarm, but because of the internal clock he'd drilled to perfection with the use of sheer willpower. He'd only gotten four hours of sleep, but that was normal for him. He groaned in pain as he sat up, reaching for the medicine bottle under his mattress and dry swallowing three more pills before he stood and showered.

He went about his routine of getting ready for the day as he called to mind everything he had to do: his English paper was due today, so he'd have to stop by the school library before class to print it out; he had a test in economics, but he knew he would ace that easily; he had five clients scheduled for tonight, so he'd let Ryou know that he'd pick up Mokuba a little later than usual tonight. Nothing out of the ordinary in any other classes, and all of the homework due today was completed. He woke up Mokuba and made sure his brother was getting ready for school before he went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Breakfast was the biggest meal of the day for Seto. He was usually too busy at lunch to eat more than a protein bar, and his dinner was whatever he could grab for himself while he was walking en route to the next client. Even so, he always made sure that Mokuba had enough money to buy a decent lunch at the cafeteria, and on weekdays he ate dinner with the Bakuras, which meant that he was eating well enough that Seto didn't have to worry about his health. Seto was plating scrambled eggs and toast for the two of them when Mokuba entered the kitchen, still yawning a bit.

"You missed a spot," Seto said with a faint smile as he smoothed down a rebellious lock of his little brother's hair. Mokuba just grinned and gave his brother a hug before accepting the plate of food. They sat across each other at the small table as they ate breakfast.

"Don't we usually leave for school later than this?"

"Yes, but I need to get to school a little bit earlier today, so we need to leave earlier."

"How was work last night?" Mokuba, like everybody else, believed that Seto worked as a bartender at a seedy joint downtown called "The Underground." That was actually the last job Seto'd had, but he'd been fired for getting into a fistfight with one of the customers. Granted, the man had been drunk, but he'd also been making physical advances on one of the female customers who'd asked him several times to stop, and that was something Seto just wouldn't stand for.

"It was alright, busier than last night, but tonight will be even busier, like always. I should be picking you up around eleven, but they might need me to stay later. If they do, I'll let you Ryou know."

"If you're going to be back so late, then could I just sleep over?" Mokuba asked slyly. Seto frowned a little. Parents tended to get squeamish about boy/girl sleepovers, even if they were just little kids and there was an older teen to keep an eye on them.

"Mokuba, I've already told you why that's not allowed," he said sternly, much to his brother's disappointment. "How is Amane doing?" Mokuba perked up immediately, and Seto was smiling again. Both older brothers had their suspicions about the their younger siblings having feelings for each other, though neither would broach the subject directly. Valentine's Day was next week, however, and Seto was just waiting for Mokuba to ask for money to buy chocolates for her.

"She's doing well. Her dad sent her and Ryou another package from Egypt yesterday."

"What was in it?"

"Some pieces of painted pottery from the dig site, a little glass cat for Amane, and a bottle of paint for Ryou. Apparently it's made with the same kinds of pigments they used in Ancient Egypt, except the paint itself isn't nearly that old." Mokuba chattered on a bit about how he thought it was so cool that Mr. Bakura was an archaeologist who dug up old stuff in Egypt. Seto himself had yet to meet Ryou's father, though he'd met his mother a few times before. "I wonder if he's ever found dinosaur bones in Egypt."

Seto scoffed at that. "I doubt the Egyptians were taking the time to mummify dinosaurs. If the Egyptians ever _did_ run into dinosaurs, I think the dinosaurs would've won that fight, leaving no Egyptians behind to bury them."

* * *

After walking Mokuba to Domino Middle School, then walking himself to Domino High School, Seto had enough time to spend twenty minutes on one of the library computers working on his own secret project: computer coding for a virtual reality program. When it was finished, it would be the thing to pull Seto and Mokuba out of the current existence they scraped together out of spare change and secondhand clothes. It would free Seto from his father and from the pimp and from Gozaburo Kaiba and everybody else who looked down on him. It would launch Seto's career in the field of computer technology. It would move them to a better part of town where they could feel _safe_ for the first time in their life. He'd been working on it for years, but it was far from done. Five minutes before the start of homeroom, he ejected his USB (containing all of his work on the program) from the library's computer and stuffed the printed essay into his backpack, then made his way to his classroom.

He was almost there and the halls were almost empty when he came across an altercation that required his intervention: Joey Wheeler, easily one of his least favorite people in the world, was taunting Yugi Moto, apparently holding something of his in one hand and holding it out of his classmate's reach. Granted, that wasn't very hard to do, given Yugi's small stature, but it was still cruel. Yugi was frantic in his efforts, reaching and pleading for it, but all to no avail. Joey seemed to be enjoying Yugi's distress, and that made Seto's blood boil. He'd managed to stay out of any serious fights since his "career change," afraid that his true state would be betrayed in the aftermath, especially if someone saw fit to try and take him to the school nurse afterward, but he couldn't allow this.

"How many times do I need to tell you to pick on someone your own size, Wheeler?" He glared at the blond as he approached, who turned and grinned smugly.

"You don't _need_ to do anything, you know," Joey pointed out, as if he enjoyed mocking Seto's noble nature. "You could just walk away for once."

"Not a chance," Seto growled as he dropped his backpack by the lockers lining the hallway. "It'll only take a moment to teach you a lesson." Yugi had started backing away from the bully; now that Seto was here, he knew that things were going to get violent, and he'd rather be out of the way than risk being collateral damage. He cringed against the wall, glancing at his watch as he noticed with a sense of panic that there was less than a minute until class started. Joey pocketed his loot before lunging at Seto. They grappled briefly, Seto using Joey's momentum against him to knock him to the floor only to have Joey hook his arm around Seto and bring him down as well. As Seto's back slammed into the floor, a sound of pain tore from his throat, unbidden. For a brief moment, pain resonated through every inch of his being, and he couldn't breathe. The air had been knocked out of him as he fell, eyes closed as he braced himself for impact. Joey stood and laughed, making Seto open his eyes to glare at him as he forced himself off of the floor. His adversary stood over him, victorious (for once), and gloating.

"Looks like I'm not the one getting my ass kicked today," Wheeler taunted, and as Seto tried to stand, he bent over and reached out with the intent of grabbing Seto by the hair and shoving him back to the floor, but something about his gesture had made Seto flinch. Seto had _flinched_. Joey shoved him down by the shoulder, then walked away, leaving his defeated foe to pick himself up off the floor. Joey slipped into his classroom with less than thirty seconds to spare.

Yugi rushed forward, reaching out to help Seto stand, but the taller teen brushed his hand away, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary.

"One of these days, Yugi, you'll realize that pacifism isn't practical," Seto said bitterly, picking up his backpack as he started walking somewhat stiffly towards his own classroom just down the hall. "You could win your own fights if you just tried."

Yugi wanted to call after him, but they were **out of time**. He ducked into class just as the teacher was about to close the door, face red with shame as he despaired over losing what had been stolen from him. At the back of the room, Joey leaned back in his seat with his hands linked behind his head. He barely paid any attention to class, as usual, but today there was something bothering him. Seto shouldn't have been in so much pain when he went down with Joey. They'd both hit the floor with more or less the same amount of force, and Joey hadn't been in pain like that. The only explanation he could concoct was that Seto was already hurt. And then that flinch…

He had never, since the day he met the cocky brunette, seen him flinch. Not in gym class when the harsh coach yelled in his face, not when faced with bullies stronger and more brutal than Joey, and especially not when he was facing off Joey himself. At least, not until now. Joey didn't know what it meant, but he didn't like it. And he didn't like that it bothered him, but he knew that he was the only one who'd seen it, so if there was anybody to worry about him, it was Joey. Yugi hadn't seen the flinch; he'd been too busy checking his watch as he fretted about getting to class on time. Joey chewed on those thoughts for the rest of the day, wondering if for once, he ought to do something to help that smartypants that so loved to defy him.


	4. Push

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This is one of my favorite chapters, actually.)
> 
> Text in bold denotes quotes from/allusions to the musical "Hamilton."

At lunchtime, Seto was working on his homework for Monday in an empty classroom when he was interrupted by a granola bar being dropped on his calculus book. He glanced up, and Ryou offered him an apple as well, wearing an expression that told him he wasn't allowed to refuse it. He accepted it with a mumbled "thanks" and took a bite of it.

"Yugi told me what happened between you and Joey this morning," Ryou said before sitting precariously on the back of the seat in front of Seto's desk, taking a bite of his own apple.

"What about it?" he asked defensively.

"He said you got hurt," Ryou answered calmly. "If you got hurt, you should see the nurse."

"I'm fine," he answered, and Ryou grunted in response.

"Would you tell me if you weren't?" he challenged, raising one eyebrow as he dared Seto to say yes.

"No."

" **At least you're honest about it.** " Ryou didn't seem angry or upset by this. "But you know that it's safe to change your mind, right?"

Seto took another bite of his apple to avoid answering, and Ryou rolled his eyes.

"I've been asking Mokuba about home life lately." Seto looked up from his homework, trying not to let alarm register in his expression. "He says that you told him he wasn't allowed to talk about it."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because you lied to me."

"About what?"

"Your mom. You told me she was sick. Mokuba told me the truth."

Seto grunted noncommittally as he went back to doing his homework.

"I get that you don't want to talk about it. That's okay. But don't lie to me again, alright?"

"Why does it matter if I do?" Actually, Seto hated lying, but there were some lies that had become a necessity in his life: lies about his job to keep people from getting involved, lies about his mom to keep people from pitying him, daily white lies about being "fine" so that maybe one day it'd actually be true.

"Because friends don't lie to friends."

"We're friends?" Seto feigned indifference, but deep down, he liked the idea of having Ryou as a friend.

" **I think I'm the best friend you've got** , if I do say so myself." After a few moments of silence, Seto glanced up.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?" Ryou became confused.

"That's your mind-reading look." Seto scowled faintly. "I don't like people reading my mind." This surprised Ryou into a light laugh as he realized that Seto had just kind of made a joke.

"Nobody can read _your_ mind, Seto, but I'm flattered that you think I can."

* * *

"Did you get a chance to talk to him?" Yugi asked as he panted alongside Ryou during gym class last period.

"Yeah, he said he's fine, but… I don't believe him," Ryou answered. He wasn't that athletically inclined, and neither was Yugi, so they ran at about the same, comfortable pace as they completed their assigned laps. Seto was faster than both of them, and he never half-assed anything, so he was farther ahead, competing with Joey for the lead.

"I think he's mad at me," Yugi admitted, feeling ashamed. "He told me I should… learn to fight my own fights… I wish I had some way to make it up to him, to thank him for all he's done to help me."

Ryou felt sympathy for Yugi; being the target of bullies was one of the several things Ryou and Yugi had in common, and Ryou tended to handle it the same way that Yugi did: keep your head down and your mouth shut until they left you alone. Seto wasn't the only one who criticized this method, though; Anzu would often tell them to grow a spine so that they could stop being taken advantage of. Although, she did tend to be more concerned with Yugi—and rightfully so, for by now, Yugi attracted more bullies than Ryou. Besides, Ryou was better at assuaging his bullies with words and peace offerings than Yugi, thus talking himself out of many potentially-nasty situations.

"Bakura! What did I tell you about that hair?!" Ryou let out a low groan, ducking his head as his face began to turn red. Coach Trudge was the one bully Ryou had never been able to ameliorate with mere words. "Get over here!" Yugi wished his friend luck as Ryou sighed and went over to where the coach stood with his clipboard and his whistle. Yugi winced as he passed them, trying to tune out Coach Trudge's harsh criticism. He was only a quarter of a mile further down the track when he heard Seto shout.

"Coach!"

"What is it now?" Trudge shouted, looking even angrier at being interrupted.

"You have no right to do that."

Yugi stumbled and came to a halt as he stared in awe. Seto was challenging the coach himself, and all the other students, even Joey who was only a few feet away from them, stopped to stare in equal shock.

"What?!" Coach Trudge was livid.

"The state of Ryou's hair does not fall under your jurisdiction as the gym coach. So long as his hair is within school regulations, _which it is_ , you have no right to tell him to cut it." Seto stood tall, the set of his chin defiant as he crossed his arms over his chest. A few of the other students, mostly from the far side of the track, started to cheer for Seto, which made him smirk. That was the last straw for Coach Trudge.

"Shut up, all of you!" he shouted at the rest of his class. "Five more laps!" Then he turned to face Seto. "And you, smart-ass? Drop and give me eighty!" Seto scowled, but obeyed, having done his job, for Ryou had been quick to return to running laps, throwing Seto a grateful glance as he passed him. Joey was the only student who was still standing instead of running.

"He's right, you know." Joey remarked casually, running a hand through his blond hair which had been dampened down by sweat. "It's really not your business what his hair looks like."

"You, join him!" He pointed from Joey to Seto, who was faithfully doing push-ups on the grass. "No special treatment for you just because your parents are donors. Nothing could get you special treatment in _my_ class." Joey sneered but joined Seto on the grass, beginning his own set of push-ups. After a few moments, Seto was smirking again.

"I would beg to differ, sir," he called out. "I would say that you give Ryou _special treatment_ in the way you harass him about his hair."

"That's twenty more, from both of you!" Coach Trudge shouted, trying to intimidate them with threats and added punishment. Little did he know that it wouldn't work.

"I have to agree: you're also showing _us_ special treatment with this punishment," Joey added. Both he and Seto were shouting their protests for the benefit of the class, and the coach was growing to be not only angry, but vengeful.

"Twenty more! I can do this all day, you two!"

"Do you think he could do as many push-ups as he's assigning to us?" Seto asked Joey as he stared at the grass beneath him, a smirk tugging at his lips despite the circumstances.

"Twenty more each!"

"I seriously doubt it," Joey shouted back, and some of the students snickered.

"Twenty more!"

"I'd have to agree. After all, they say those who can't, teach."

"That's it, forty more each!"

Ryou and Yugi, who had resumed their laps side by side, looked at each other in amazement. The two rebels kept up the back and forth, pushing coach's buttons relentlessly, while the rest of the class finished their five extra laps. The two rivals were actually collapsing with laughter at their own jokes at one point, and Seto couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard. They didn't look at each other the whole time they kept it up, but it looked for all the world as if they were actually enjoying each others' contributions to the coach's misery.

By the time everybody else was done, they'd piled up five-hundred-eighty push-ups, and were _still_ going at it. Ryou paused by the two of them at the end of class to thank Seto for sticking up for him. He couldn't say anything more before Coach Trudge yelled at him. Ryou walked away then, but it was with a smile as he gently tugged his white hair out of its ponytail.

Twenty minutes after school was let out, an administrative member from the school came out and thoroughly reprimanded the coach for keeping students after school and employing corporal punishment for insults dealt him. Seto and Joey were let go, and while Joey high-tailed it out of there, Seto limped to the boys' locker room to shower. He normally would have just gone home to do so, but since nobody else was around, he felt confident that nobody would see his marked body. He was safe. For just a few minutes, he was safe.

* * *

Joey cursed himself for taking off without his gym bag. He didn't need to give Seto any more of a reason to believe him to be an idiot. He'd only driven two blocks away from school when he'd remembered and turned around, doing a shoddy job of parking his car in the parking lot before hopping out and running back to the locker room to grab his bag. Seto was in one of the showers when he entered, but Joey was in too much of a rush to care. He was already late picking up Serenity, and his parents hated it when he wasn't on time to get her. He shouldered his gym bag, his arms already getting sore, and turned to leave when something caught his eye against his will. Through a small crack between the shower curtain and the tiled wall of the shower, he could see vivid bruising on Seto's torso. It took a fraction of a second for it to register in Joey's mind what he was seeing before he dashed out of there as quickly as he could. The image stuck with him for the rest of the day and well into the night.

Seto, whose eyes had been closed and his ears filled with the sound of running water, didn't even know that Joey had come back to the locker room. But he did find a small gold puzzle piece on the floor that had, unbeknownst to him, fallen out of Joey's bag when he'd scampered out of the locker room only minutes ago. He'd put it in his pocket before leaving for home, deciding that he'd find whose it was on Monday. Thanks to his little stunt, his arms were incredibly sore and his body was aching all over again. Perhaps standing up to the coach had been stupid of him, but he couldn't stand going one more day without standing up to the gym coach about his constant harassing of Ryou. Seto **couldn't stand injustice** ; that was why he was always getting himself involved in fights that weren't his and standing up to bullies. He used his anger at the world to fuel his fire when he fought, which was why he always came out on top. Except for that morning.

He checked his watch with a sigh. He had just enough time to change out of his school uniform, drop off his backpack, and maybe sit down for a few minutes to rest, before he needed to leave to meet his first client. He'd gotten two calls on his cell that day from other clients wanting to hire him for some period of time that night, so his night was going to be even longer than he'd anticipated that morning. He wasn't sure how he was going to survive the night. For once, he didn't think that sheer force of will was going to be enough.


	5. Weekend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though Seto's the protagonist of this story, this chapter doesn't have much of him. Sorry. Now, is everybody ready for the first appearance of the Millennium Items? ;) Ohmehgerd, plot is happening!

"My little cupcake, you're already exhausted, and we've barely gotten started," the cougar crooned as she pet Seto, making the brunette suppress a shudder. The occasional lonely cougars were actually the least repulsive category of customers for him, but they were still fairly repulsive just the same. "You'll need something to keep you going." She pressed the edge of her wineglass to his lips, and though his first instinct was to resist, he had neither the energy nor the ability to resist.

This wasn't the first time a customer had forced alcohol on him, but each time he hated himself for not trying to fight it. Granted, he wasn't _allowed_ to resist them, and he was able to fake drinking more than he actually did, but it repulsed him that his father's favorite addiction was so unavoidable in his life. His greatest concern was that, one day, whatever they forced him to drink would also be laced with drugs and that he'd just disappear, leaving Mokuba behind without a trace of where his older brother had gone. He couldn't afford to lose himself, but he also couldn't afford to lose a client, so as the older woman kissed him hungrily, he returned it, squashing down the voice of his soul that hated every bit of it.

* * *

Seto had just enough energy at half past eleven to scoop the spare change from his pocket and use it at a payphone to call Ryou and ask if Mokuba could stay the night. He'd said that it was an unusually busy night at the club and they wouldn't be letting him off until well after midnight. After being assured that it was no problem at all and establishing that he'd be by around noon tomorrow to pick up Mokuba, he hung up and sagged against the clear plastic wall of the adjacent bus stop.

He had to keep going, still a couple of blocks to his next client. He couldn't rest yet, he told himself as he slowly sat on the bench. He needed to stay awake, he thought as his eyes closed for what felt like only a moment. His eyes snapped open and he checked his watch: a half hour had passed in the instant he'd closed his eyes.

"Shit," Seto muttered as he jumped to his feet and swayed for a moment, then shook his head to clear his vision. "Shit, shit, _shit_." He broke into a light jog as he hurried to the next client. This was precisely the one person who was most intolerant of tardiness: a fierce, leather-clad dominatrix who genuinely terrified Seto. There was no way he would get out of this without new injuries, and that was the last thing he needed right now. And then he had to see that banker; he was always rough too... How much longer could he hide the abuse he allowed his body to endure? How much longer could he get away with it?

* * *

"Dad, what does it mean when you see someone flinch?" Joey asked his doctor father Saturday morning. It was rare for Dr. Wheeler to be home at a time when his son was awake and home as well. Being one of the best cardiac surgeons in the country meant that he could be called out for an emergency surgery at any time.

"Flinching is a reflex induced by the sensation or anticipation of pain," his father said automatically without looking up from his newspaper, speaking like some kind of clinical textbook. "People who have been physically abused, either domestically or as children, tend to flinch at sudden movements, especially movements near their head or face." He turned the page to the continuation of the article he was currently reading, displaying no curiosity as to why his son should be asking such a question.

"Cool, thanks," Joey mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the kitchen and went down to the basement. He was used to his parents being distant and detached; he preferred it that way, because it meant that they left him alone, except for the times he got in trouble or they just got mad at him. They could frown and scold and discipline him as much as they wanted, but he'd never listen. They only things that had ever motivated Joey to action were his own capricious interests and impulses. As he plugged his electric guitar into his amp and turned the volume up, he grinned to himself and started to play. It annoyed the crap out of his parents, but he liked the way the rock music could drown out everything, even his own thoughts.

* * *

Seto slept until almost eleven Saturday morning, waking up and feeling almost rested for the first time all week. Usually he wouldn't let himself sleep quite that late, but after last night, he'd really needed it. The first thing he did was to swallow a dose of painkillers, then lay in bed for just a little while longer, waiting for them to kick in. When he stood at last, he found that he wasn't in quite as bad a shape as he'd thought he'd be in. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been this bad, which meant that he'd been worse off than this before. And if he'd been worse off previous times, that meant that he could survive this, and he took comfort in that fact.

He showered quickly, then grabbed an apple from the kitchen on his way out. He had to pick up Mokuba before he could get started on his homework. Since Mokuba had spent the night at Ryou's house, he didn't feel comfortable asking Ryou to watch him again that night. He could call Anzu, ask her to watch Mokuba for the evening, but if she wasn't available, he wasn't sure what he would do with him. He never felt safe leaving Mokuba home alone with their father, not because their father had hurt Mokuba before, but because he was afraid that he would. After all, he always got angry when he was drunk, and when he got angry, he always got violent. Seto had always taken measures to prevent his father's alcohol-induced violence from doing any physical harm to Mokuba, but there was no telling what kind of mental or emotional damage could happen in Seto's absence. If Anzu couldn't watch Mokuba, then Seto would just have to cancel on all of his clients for the day. Mokuba always came first, and he had enough to pay his "employer" his full quota for the week. The money he would have earned tonight would have gone into his own wallet for their household expenses. Maybe...

As Seto approached Ryou's house, he decided that it would be best to spend more time with Mokuba that day. He couldn't blow off the regular customers without serious repercussions, so he'd still have to call Anzu about watching Mokuba for a few hours, but it would be significantly less time spent away from him than otherwise, and that was what mattered most.

* * *

Sunday night, after Amane had been put to bed and his mother had left for work, Ryou was Skyping with his father, practicing his Arabic with the seasoned archaeologist.

"You've gotten better," his father praised, beaming at his son's achievement before his face grew serious. "It's a good thing, too, because soon we might have a house-guest who _only_ speaks Arabic."

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked, looking confused as he settled his laptop more comfortably on his lap.

"Remember that new potential dig site I told you about last week?"

"Yeah, you said that it looked like it might have been raided by tomb-robbers, but that it still looked promising."

"I was wrong. It wasn't raided. It's been _lived in_ for the past three thousand years."

"What?!" Ryou almost knocked over his laptop as he sat up in alarm. "But nobody's living there any more, right?"

"Well, not now that we've gotten them out." His father sighed, looking drained as he recalled the whole ordeal. "They speak some modern Egyptian Arabic, enough to communicate with us as necessary, but they mostly speak ancient Hieratic Egyptian. They read the ancient scrolls effortlessly, and it's absolutely incredible! They'll be able to give us incredible insight into the earliest periods of ancient Egyptian history."

"But… But why were people living in a tomb? And who are they?" Ryou spluttered. The idea of living underground in the darkness, hidden away from the sky and the fresh air and everything else, made Ryou's chest constrict with fear.

"We found a family: a father with his three children. The youngest is named Marik and he's about your age. There were clear signs that their father had been abusing him, so we called in the local authorities to apprehend him and lock him up until we could get all of the facts. To be honest, though, things aren't looking good for him and I don't feel that bad about it. His daughter Ishizu seems to be the leader of the three, even though her other brother Rishid is older than her. She explained to me that her family has been guarding the secrets of the pharaoh's tomb ever since the pharaoh's interment."

"Which pharaoh?"

"She won't say. We're still trying to make them feel more comfortable with us so that we can help them reconstruct their lives and introduce them to modern technology. Apparently, they were forbidden from leaving the tomb _ever_. What they ate or how they survived like that is beyond me. Rishid is about twenty-five and Ishizu is about twenty, so they're old enough that they're handling things fairly well, but Marik's a bit of a mess. He's sick, but we can't get him the help he needs here in Egypt. I'm trying to convince Ishizu that we ought to send him back to Japan so that he can get the help he needs, but it doesn't look like that'll be happening anytime soon. If he does end up going to Japan, I'd want him staying with us, and it'll be helpful for him if he can communicate with someone his age." Ryou was still rather stunned at everything he'd heard.

"Yeah, sure, I'll keep practicing. I feel bad for him." Ryou frowned. "He must have hated living underground. I know I would."

"Yes, it's rather unfortunate. Well, enough about my week, how have you been?" Ryou's father asked with a smile as he forced the Ishtar family out of his mind for now. "How's Amane and your mom? How's Mokuba doing?" Ryou had long ago told his father about the arrangement he had with Seto concerning Mokuba, and more recently he'd vocalized his concerns for Seto himself.

"They're doing well." Ryou grinned broadly, unable to help himself. "It's really cute watching Mokuba and Amane together. I actually caught them holding hands when we were walking home after school on Friday."

"Tell me, Ryou, how is it that your eleven-year-old sister has a more successful love-life than you do?" his father teased, making the teen blush. It always flustered him when his father made comments like that.

"I've _told_ you, Dad, all the girls at Domino High are just so… so… shallow!" Ryou sighed dramatically. "I mean, Anzu's not as bad as the others, but she's hung up on Yugi, even though neither of them will admit it. When I find a nice girl who actually _uses_ her brain to think about more than fashion and gossip, _then_ I'll date." His father just chuckled at that.

"I'm afraid I've given you high standards for women by marrying your mom," he said with a smile that Ryou reciprocated.

"Yeah, Mom's pretty great. When I find a girl as great as Mom, _then_ I'll date."

"Anything else exciting happen this week?" That was when Ryou remembered gym class on Friday and he explained to his father what-all had happened with Seto and Joey and the coach.

"No coach should be treating his students like that," Mr. Bakura said with a frown. "That method of punishment isn't appropriate in _any_ high school."

"I agree, but Dad, you should have _seen_ Seto and Joey going at it!" Ryou enthused, still amazed at their audacity. "It was incredible the way they kept goading him, and it was weird that they were working together, because usually they can't stand to be around each other!"

"A common enemy tends to unite people," Mr. Bakura explained. "Why did Seto stand up to the coach?"

"Because he was picking on me and he hates bullies," Ryou answered, looking thoughtful.

"And why do you think Joey stood up to the coach?"

"Because… he enjoys undermining authority figures at every given opportunity," Ryou answered after a few moments, thinking hard about what he'd seen of Joey's behavior towards other teachers.

"Well, there you go: a common enemy that they both enjoyed humiliating for their own reasons. How's your diorama coming along?"

"It's almost done, I just have to finish the castle, and then it'll be complete enough to use! I'm trying to have it done by the time you come home so we can play the first game with it." There was a moment of happy silence between the two of them that was interrupted by Ryou's yawn.

"Time for you to go to bed, kiddo. Don't want to be late for school tomorrow!"

"Okay, bye Dad!"

"Goodnight, Ryou! I love you!"

"Love you too, Dad."

As Ryou put his laptop away, he realized that he'd forgotten to ask his dad for advice about how he should talk to Seto. He'd hoped that his father might have a better insight into what might be going on in the troubled teen's life. Hopefully, it could wait until next week. He turned out the lights and climbed into bed, removing the necklace his father had sent him from Egypt about a month ago. His father had called it the Millennium Ring, although Ryou didn't know why it was called that. It wasn't the kind of ring one would wear on their finger and it was certainly older than one millennium. He couldn't explain why, but he never liked to be separated from it. For whatever reason, he was greatly attracted to the gold artifact, so he always wore it under his uniform at school, removing it only when he was in gym class and when he slept. He laid it on his nightstand before closing his eyes to sleep.

* * *

Seto put a plate of food in front of his father. Sunday was his day off, so he'd made dinner himself, and since his father was actually home for once in the evening, he figured there was no reason not to give him food as well. He went back to his seat at the table, blocking Mokuba's view of their father in case he used the plate of food as an ashtray again.


	6. Puzzle

Seto woke up late Monday morning, not late enough that they were late to school, but late enough that Seto had no time to do any programming before class. He ended up rushing breakfast so that he could leave with Mokuba and drop him off while not being late for his own classes. He bumped into Ryou dropping off his younger sister as well, so they ended up walking to school together. They bumped into Yugi just outside the double doors of the school building, who greeted them both with almost excessive cheerfulness. When the pleasantries were over, Seto cut right to the chase.

"Yugi, what did Joey take from you on Friday?" The shorter teen wilted a little at the memory of it.

"He took one of my puzzle pieces," Yugi said with a sigh.

"What kind of puzzle was it?" Seto pressed, and Yugi glanced up at him as if he were hesitant to answer.

"It's a gold puzzle that was discovered in an ancient Egyptian tomb several years ago. The last owner of it passed it on to my grandpa, and my grandpa passed it on to me to see if I could solve it. I feel like I'm getting close, but I'll never be able to finish it without the last piece." His shoulders slumped again.

"Is this it?" Seto reached into his pocket and pulled out the glittering puzzle piece before tossing it at Yugi, who caught it with both hands and examined it, delight illuminating his face.

"Yes it is! Thank you Seto!" Yugi impulsively lunged at Seto and wrapped his arms around the taller teen's waist in a tight hug. Seto was caught entirely off-guard by the physical display of gratitude. The only person who ever touched him with his permission was Mokuba, and occasionally Ryou, but those were only small moments of contact that he initiated and ended quickly. This, this was something new to him entirely, and Ryou could tell from Seto's expression that he was not only surprised and uncomfortable, but he was also hiding physical pain. "Where did you find it?" Yugi asked as he pulled away, and Seto relaxed a little, straightening his uniform.

"In the locker room after gym," he explained.

"Oh yeah, how did that go?" Ryou asked. "Did he actually make you guys do all of those push-ups?" His expression was one of pity, and Seto quickly shook his head to dispel it.

"I figure he would have, but someone from the school board or something came out and stopped him."

"Well that's good," Ryou commented, and looked like he was about to say more when Yugi interrupted him.

"Seto, Ryou and I want to help you with your deck," he said, looking determined.

"What?" The tall brunette didn't understand what he meant at first, and looked vaguely confused.

"I know you have it all figured out already, but we want to help you get the cards you need," Yugi explained.

"Consider it thanks for all the times you've stood up for us," Ryou said with a warm smile.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Seto said, not sure if he was comfortable with this.

"Even if we didn't feel obligated to pay you back for all your help, we'd still want to help you with your deck," Yugi answered, a glitter of idealism in his violet eyes. "That's what friends are for."

Seto wasn't sure how to react to this kindness. He was hesitant to accept it, as he was always hesitant to accept anything free. There was always a catch, always a regret lying in wait. But this time… he couldn't find a reason to say no. It felt strange when he smiled back at them, strange to think of them as his friends. Was this really happening? Seto wasn't sure. He wasn't used to his life holding so much positivity in one day. He wasn't used to being happy. It was all strange, but strange in a good way, and the day only got stranger.

He didn't have class with either of them first period, but second period he shared class with both Ryou and Joey, who, much to his surprise, ended up flanking his desk in class. It made sense that Ryou would choose to sit next to him, but why Joey?

* * *

All day, Joey managed to not actually act like a total jerk. Since he was being fairly amiable, Seto responded in kind, though he wasn't foolish enough to think that Joey was suddenly a good person or worthy of his trust. At lunch, Seto let Yugi and Ryou join him in an empty classroom while he was doing his calculus homework.

"So, what cards do you still need for your deck?" Yugi asked while Ryou pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. Seto had his deck memorized, of course, and he knew exactly which cards he had yet to acquire.

"Negate Attack, Soul Release, Different Dimension Dragon, Chaos Emperor Dragon, Card of Sanctity, Lord of Dragons, Mirror Force…" Seto paused to let Ryou catch up. "Luster Dragon #2, Dimension Fusion, Clone Dragon, Card of Demise, Cave Dragon, and…" He hesitated. The most important and powerful cards for his strategy were also the most difficult to acquire out of them all. It was ambitious of him to have made such incredibly rare cards so integral to his deck, but he couldn't help that something in his soul had latched onto the card the first moment he saw it.

"Yeah, and what?" Yugi asked, looking curious.

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Ryou's eyes grew wide as Yugi gasped. "But there are only four of those in the whole world! Nobody even knows who owns them!" the Brit exclaimed as Yugi's eyes sparkled with a secret. "Do you really need it for your strategy?"

Seto nodded. "The Blue-Eyes will find its way into my deck one way or another," he said without looking up from the calculus problems. "You don't have to worry about helping me get that one."

"Okay, I think my grandpa has most of these cards at the Game Shop. He didn't have all of them the last time you were there. Speaking of which, it's been a while since you came by."

Seto stiffened a little as he shrugged and answered, "I work a lot of hours. I haven't had the time."

"Well, you should _make_ the time and come visit us with Ryou so we can have some proper duels," Yugi said cheerfully, Ryou glancing between Seto and Yugi for a moment. Yugi wasn't aware that Seto's life was more troubled than he let on, and even though Ryou didn't know the details of Seto's life either, he felt that Yugi's choice of words could have been better.

Joey popped his head into the classroom then. "Hey, whatchya doin'?"

* * *

All four of them were dreading gym class that day, but it turned out that they had a sub, who explained that Coach Trudge was in the hospital and that the sub would be teaching the gym until he recovered, though he didn't say from what. Ryou seemed troubled to hear this, but Seto didn't miss the harsh man one bit.

* * *

"Mokuba, what have I told you about fighting?" Seto took a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and handed it to his little brother.

"You say to only fight in someone else's defense, and that's exactly what I did," Mokuba said stubbornly as he pressed the frozen peas to his black eye. "One of the other boys was pulling Amane's hair and he wouldn't stop even when she told him to." Seto sighed.

"I've taught you too well," he grumbled as he sat down at the table and pulled out his homework. Mokuba trotted over and sat down across from him.

"So you're not mad at me?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"Well, I don't like that you got hurt, but you only did what I've told you to do, so I can't very well be mad at you for that, can I?" He glanced up at Mokuba and smiled sadly.

"You can stay up only a little longer, then you need to get to bed, okay?"

Mokuba nodded.

"Did Amane like the chocolates you gave her for Valentines?"

"Yeah..." Mokuba blushed and smiled somewhat stupidly, like the little boy in love that he was.


	7. Found

Joey spent the rest of the week asking the right questions, pulling some strings in his social network, and making phone calls that his parents would be apoplectic to hear him making. He even left school at lunch on Tuesday to talk to Seto's little brother about him. Mokuba had been guileless enough to answer honestly, even telling Joey how there were some Saturdays when Seto could hardly stand. By Friday, Joey'd found what he was looking for. He made one last call during lunch, made a sizable withdrawal from an ATM right after school, then went to the motel room to wait, pulling out his laptop as he sat on his bed and waited for the right time.

* * *

Seto's second customer that Friday had been one of the impromptu ones, the ones who called for same-day service that he had to squeeze in among the regulars and those who'd made appointments ahead of time. But this client had booked two full hours, and Seto was more than a little nervous. It was a man. Those sessions were always the most painful. They were meeting at a cheap motel, which was just as normal for Seto as an upscale hotel.

Seto went to the front desk and got the key-card, then went to the room, suppressing the protests his soul made each and every time. They were getting quieter the longer he did this, which worried him. He straightened up as he stood in front of the door, then opened it and went in. What he saw made him freeze, then slam the door behind himself before he started shouting.

"What the _hell_ Wheeler? What the actual **_hell_** _?!_ " Joey put his hands up in defense as Seto charged forward, looking furious. As Seto made to take a swipe at him, Joey deflected the blow and knocked Seto onto the bed behind him, the impact from that alone making him wince. Joey began to speak before Seto could yell at him again.

"I could tell somethin' was wrong, okay?" he said somewhat quietly, a tone in his voice that Seto had never heard before. "I was able to figure it out 'cause I'm not actually as dumb as you think I am." He crossed his arms. "You've been exhausted and chugging way too many pain-killers for someone our age. Too many for anybody, for that matter. It's not safe, and Ryou told me that Mokuba's gettin' worried about you."

"So this is some kind of intervention?" Seto demanded as he sat up. Joey couldn't tell if his face was red from shame or anger. Probably both.

"No, this is me giving you a break." He tossed the envelope of cash on the bed, and continued, "Do whatever you want for the next two hours." He moved towards the door, intending to leave, when Seto's voice stopped him.

"Why? Why would you do this?"

The voice held such brokenness and pain that Joey didn't trust himself to turn around and look at Seto's face.

"Because no kid should have to worry about his older brother like that," he answered quietly. "It hurts Mokuba to see you hurt, and he's starting to catch on that the amount of pain you're always in isn't normal. He needs to see you improve, and the only way for you to improve is to rest." With that, Joey left the room and the motel, walking down the street with his hands in his pockets as he went to find some place to eat and kill time.

Seto, apprehensive about this gift of time, took Joey's advice in the end, deciding to take a nap. He took off his shirt and jeans and climbed into bed only after locking the door as securely as possible. In the unfamiliar darkness of the motel room, he could still fall asleep within seconds, telling himself to wake up in exactly two hours.

Two hours later, Joey had come back to the room to find that Seto still asleep. He sat in the chair in the corner, wondering if he ought to wake him up. He decided he'd give him a few minutes, since he most definitely needed the rest. Seto woke up on his own, actually, and when he sat up in bed with his back to his friend, Joey's jaw dropped.

"Holy shit." The words fell from his mouth before he could stop himself, and Seto whirled around, looking furious. Now Joey could see his bruises too, and he kept his mouth shut this time, though his eyes were wide with shock. He'd never seen so many bruises on one body before. They must have been what he'd glimpsed last Friday. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. Seto's fierce glare silencing any words he might have spoken. They stared at each other in silence for a few moments before Seto turned around, quickly dressed, and left without a word.

Joey felt like he'd glimpsed a whole new world he'd only ever heard about.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, that arrangement with Joey continued: two hours every Friday, same place, same time, same payment. Sometimes Seto napped, sometimes the two boys would eat and talk, and once Joey had sheepishly asked Seto for a bit of tutoring, just enough for him to be able to pass the class. He didn't want to be stuck in high school forever, after all. They began to become friends, which was a surprise to both of them.

Joey's and Yugi's friendliness in school also persisted, making themselves a new established presence in Seto's life. Yugi and Ryou helped him complete his deck while also teaching Joey how to play the game, helping him to build a deck of his own. Of course, Joey had been dumb enough to challenge Seto for his first proper duel. Seto annihilated him and cautioned him to choose his opponents more carefully in the future. Anzu hung around them as well from time to time. From what Seto could see, Anzu had a crush on Yugi, but Yugi was entirely oblivious to it. It was amusing to see her vain attempts at getting his attention on something other than card-games.

About a month after Joey made his dramatic transformation from complete bully to a not-so-bad-after-all loud-mouth, Yugi finally solved the Millennium Puzzle, bringing it to school to show them what it looked like when the puzzle was solved. Although he was good at the subject, Seto had never taken much of a genuine interest in history. No matter what the teachers said, he never thought of people from the past as being very relevant to him, especially the ancient past.

Later that same day, he saw Ryou in the bathroom, leaning over the sink with his shoulders hunched over.

"Are you alright?"

Ryou quickly straightened up, putting on a fake smile as he said with false cheer, "Oh, yes, I'm quite alright!"

Seto frowned. "I thought you said that friends don't lie to friends."

Ryou looked startled, then grinned sheepishly. "I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Seto locked the bathroom door for privacy (something he wasn't technically allowed to do, but this was one occasion where he thought it was justified to screw the rules) and walked closer, noting how his approach made Ryou start to look a little nervous. "What's wrong?"

"My chest has been hurting since this morning," Ryou admitted, beginning to look flustered.

"What kind of pain?" Seto asked. Pain was something he was well acquainted with, which enabled him to help Ryou.

"Sharp," was all Ryou could think of as a way to describe it.

"Internal or external?"

"External."

Seto started to unbutton Ryou's uniform jacket.

"Is this necessary?" Ryou was a private person like Seto, not because he had something to hide, like Seto did, but simply because he was shy.

"Yes." The jacket open, Seto could see the shape of something underneath Ryou's shirt, as well as five little spots of blood arranged strangely on the white cotton. "What is this?" he asked touching the object slightly, which made Ryou wince. He started to unbutton Ryou's shirt, making his British friend blush.

"It's a necklace. My father sent it to me from Egypt," Ryou answered, staring up at the ceiling as he tried not to feel uncomfortable with this.

"What the hell…" Seto's words made Ryou look down, and for a moment he stopped breathing. Seto just shook off the strangeness of the situation and continued calmly. "Do you want me to take it out, or do you want to go to the nurse?"

"You can take it out," Ryou answered quickly, growing increasingly agitated. Seto carefully removed the spikes of the golden artifact from where they were embedded in Ryou's chest, grabbing paper towels and pressing them to the holes left behind as they began to bleed. Ryou's hands shook as he took the Millennium Ring from Seto, staring into its eye as Seto got another paper towel and wet it in the sink, coming back to clean the blood from Ryou's chest. Seto glanced up at Ryou, who seemed frozen in shock.

"Hey, are you gonna be alright?" Seto asked, pressing a dry paper towel to the wounds again. It seemed like they had just about stopped bleeding. Ryou's head snapped up, surprised, then nodded.

"Yes, yes, I'll be fine," he assured hurriedly.

"You're not very good at faking it, Ryou," Seto commented. "If you're going to keep saying that you're fine, you should get better at lying." Ryou sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Seto…" Ryou wasn't sure how to continue, afraid that Seto would think him insane if he told the truth.

"Yeah?" Finally, Seto straightened up, having done everything for Ryou that he could. He let out a grunt of surprise as his friend suddenly threw his arms around him, hugging him closely. After a moment, Seto hugged him in return and could feel Ryou shaking at his core.

"You know I'm not crazy, right?"

"Of course you're not crazy," Seto answered matter-of-factly, even though he didn't know why Ryou would ask such a thing. "You make more sense than most people." Ryou sighed and leaned in against Seto as his knees went weak for a moment, then he released him and began to button his shirt.

"Thank you, for everything," he said, his eyes on his hands. "I think I'll be fine."

Seto studied Ryou with narrow eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Ryou smiled back.

"Good, you were much more convincing that time," Seto responded with a slight smirk. They both left the bathroom, but an eerie voice was still ringing in Ryou's ears: _"Even if you remove the ring, you can't get rid of me. I've chosen to stay in your body forever!"_

* * *

Two weeks later, Marik Ishtar and Mr. Bakura flew from Egypt to Japan. Marik, sick as he was, had been admitted to a hospital in Tokyo as soon as they touched down while Mr. Bakura stayed with him as a translator, helping him to learn English and Japanese while he recovered. This was news that Ryou kept to himself and his family, not wanting to spread rumors in case his friends did get to meet Marik. He'd prefer that Marik be allowed a fresh start in a new place. That's what he was here for, wasn't it? A fresh start and a new life?

All the while, Ryou also kept the incident with the Millennium Ring to himself, as did Seto, who understood discretion perhaps better than anybody else in their small friend group. He was surprised that Seto never asked him about how the Millennium Ring had come to be embedded in his chest like that, but he was also grateful for it. Seto kept his peace because he figured that if Ryou wanted him to know, he'd tell him. He kept a closer eye on Ryou after that, though, since now he knew that Ryou was just like him: even when he needed help, he kept his problems to himself.

Which included his problems with bullies. Once in a fortnight, there was a certain gang that would come around when Ryou was alone and stuff him in a locker or do something else equally juvenile, cruel, and humiliating. Sometimes Seto stopped them, but it was always a matter of chance whether or not he could show up. This time around, when they tried to steal Ryou's dueling deck, Ryou blacked out, waking up a little while later to find his deck safe and sound. But how had he gotten to the stairwell? Hadn't they stopped him when he was outside? And where on earth had those bullies gone? Even though he was freaked out, or maybe because he was so disturbed, Ryou kept this to himself as well. The next day, he found out that the three bullies were hospitalized and in a comatose state.


	8. Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I instituted a plot-twist I hadn't planned on earlier, but thankfully, nothing I said earlier contradicts it outright. Hopefully it makes things even cuter for the Wintershipping (Mokuba x Amane) subplot.

It was only Wednesday night, so Seto let Ryou talk him into stepping inside for just a few moments before he took Mokuba home. Besides, Ryou said that their new guest, and Mr. Bakura, wanted to meet him.

"Seto, this is Marik Ishtar." Ryou then turned to Marik and introduced Seto, then did so again in Arabic. Ryou's father said that doing so helped Marik catch on faster. The two teens stared at each other apprehensively, cerulean eyes meeting lavender in silence for a few moments. Then a look of recognition came over the Egyptian teen's face, and he held out his hand to Seto, who took it carefully and shook it. The handshake was firm and brief, and Seto found it to be an indication of the kind of person he respected.

"It is good to meet you," Marik said in heavily accented English, his words carefully articulated.

"Nice to meet you as well," Seto responded, although he had a funny feeling about the immigrant. Seto wasn't used to trusting intuitions that didn't make any logical sense, but he also didn't tend to have intuitions that were wrong either. As such, he was on his edge as he released Marik's hand. Marik turned to Ryou and said something in Arabic, then turned and went upstairs.

"He said that he has something for you," Ryou said, looking confused. "I can't imagine what it could be, though."

"Get your things together, Mokuba, we'll be leaving in a minute," Seto said, turning to his brother who was sitting on the couch with Amane. Mokuba reluctantly got up and started putting his school books in his backpack, Amane watching him with adoring green eyes.

"Amane," Ryou called as he started to sign to his deaf sister, whose attention was caught as soon as he signed her name. "Mokuba has to leave now, so say goodbye." He spoke as he signed, which was something his whole family did to help her learn to read lips. She'd watched Ryou sign to her, then pouted and began to sign back.

"What's she saying?" Seto asked.

"She's asking if I have to go," Mokuba said, looking cheeky, and Seto rolled his eyes, even as he felt proud of how his brother was catching onto sign language so well.

"How on _earth_ do you two not get sick of each other?" Seto said in exasperation. "You see each other at school five days a week and spend the evenings together six days a week. I don't get it!"

Ryou laughed heartily at Seto's outburst, and Amane looked at her brother with a puzzled expression. Ryou signed and mouthed the words back to her, and she herself started to giggle, which made Mokuba smile even more widely.

Marik came down the stairs at that moment, carrying a shortened gold scepter. He came to stand in front of Seto and held it out to him, saying in Arabic what he didn't have the words to say otherwise.

"He says for you to take it, that his sister told him to give it to you."

"I can't take something like that." Seto stared at the golden artifact with wide eyes. It was obviously a priceless object, and how could he justify accepting such a valuable gift from a near stranger? Marik spoke again in Arabic, still holding out the rod at arm's length so that Seto would take it from him.

"He says that it's your destiny," Ryou translated.

"I don't believe in destiny."

Marik thrust the item in Seto's direction, almost glaring at Seto as he waited for him to take the gift.

Seto didn't understand what was going on, but he figured it was pointless to argue with the Egyptian, for he looked to be cut from the same stubborn as the brunette. Seto sighed and reached out, his hand grasping the length of the Millennium Rod as his eyes fell on the eye at the top of the scepter. Suddenly, a bright flash of light emanating from the eye of Ra blinded Seto. Everything went white before he blacked out.

He seemed to float in darkness while he was unconscious, the only sensation his mind could register was that of strong, warm arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly. The pressure made his bruises and welts ache, and he tried to push away from the embrace, struggled against the stranger, but the arms holding him were far too strong for him to resist. They pulled him in closer, the warmth increasing as it soothed his physical pain. He eventually stopped fighting and came to rest against the warm presence that was healing him. Could he trust this person?

* * *

When he opened his eyes an hour later, he found himself lying on the couch. He let out a grunt as he sat up, his sore body having grown stiff while he lay still.

"Big brother!" The brunette let out a low groan of pain as his little brother tackled him affectionately, putting an arm around his brother as he sat up to adjust his position so that it didn't cause him so much pain.

"Sorry, sorry," Mokuba apologized regretfully, climbing off of his brother to simply stand beside the couch, reaching for his brother's hand and holding it tightly as he sought reassurance in his brother's presence.

"Good to see you awake." Seto didn't recognize the voice, so he stood up quickly, turning around even as he felt a wave of light-headedness. Mokuba clung to his brother's hand still, feeling how tense he was with apprehension. Ryou and an older man that he could only guess to be Mr. Bakura were sharing tea as they sat at the counter. Ryou looked relieved to see Seto on his feet again, but Mr. Bakura looked worried.

"You probably shouldn't stand up so quickly. It's okay to take things easy, you know," he said as he stood. Seto, of course, didn't listen. Looking wary, Seto took a step forward, only to lose his balance as his knees buckled beneath him.

"Seto!" the younger child cried as he caught his brother and pushed him back onto the couch, looking worried.

"Is he always this stubborn?" Mr. Bakura asked somewhere above Seto's head.

"Pretty much," Ryou answered from the counter.

Seto looked up, blinking to clear his vision as Mr. Bakura's face came into view. Mr. Bakura moved out from behind the couch and sat beside the brunette.

"It's good to finally meet you, Seto." Mr. Bakura held out his hand and Seto shook it, regarding Ryou's father with hesitance and respect.

"And you as well, sir," Seto responded. "What happened?" Mr. Bakura hesitated, then let out a long breath.

"Do you believe in magic, Seto?"

"No." He answered without hesitation, looking at Bakura apprehensively.

"Well, you will," was all he said before standing again.

"What do you mean by that?" Seto asked sharply. Something was happening that was beyond his control, and it scared him. Few things truly scared him, but this was one of them. Mokuba, confused and startled by the turn of this conversation, stepped closer to his brother, letting go of his hand to put an arm around him in search of comfort. Seto pulled Mokuba in for a hug, then stood up again, lifting Mokuba into his arms as he did so, deciding that he wasn't going to stick around any longer.

"Look, we need to get going. We have school tomorrow."

"Of course." Mr. Bakura stood as well and stepped aside to let Seto leave. "I'm sorry to have detained you."

Seto picked up Mokuba's backpack and left, his little brother nestling into his shoulder as he dozed off. Mr. Bakura watched them leave until they turned the corner and were out of sight.

"So, what do you think, Dad?" Ryou asked, then suppressed a yawn.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed too," Mr. Bakura answered with a smile.

"No, I mean about Seto." Ryou looked worried. "He's not okay, right? He needs help, I just don't know why or with what." His father sighed and rubbed the back of his had thoughtfully.

"I need to spend more time talking with him to determine that, to be honest. But don't worry, I will. Why don't you invite him over Friday? You two could duel while the little ones watch a movie or something."

"I'll invite him, but he'll probably have work. Fridays are always his busiest days."

"Where does he work?"

"He's a bartender at The Underground. It's somewhere downtown. He says that he helps them to identify and remove minors that are using fake IDs."

"Uh-huh." Mr. Bakura looked thoughtful. "I'll make some inquiries and see if we can't figure out what's really going on." Ryou nodded, looking very tired indeed. "Like I said, it's time for you to get to bed."

"Okay, okay," he murmured, standing up and giving his father a hug. He didn't seem to want to let go. "I'm scared, Dad," he whispered.

"About the Millennium Ring?" Ryou nodded, and his father's arms tightened around him. "Don't worry, son, we'll figure it out. Everything will be alright."

* * *

Seto put Mokuba to bed as soon as they got home, careful to be quiet since their dad was passed out on the couch. Then he sat down at the table and pulled out all the homework he had left to do by tomorrow, which was more than he felt like dealing with at the moment, but at the same time, he knew that he didn't have any choice but to get it all done. He needed to continue acing his classes so that he could have a chance at getting into a good college and earning the full tuition scholarship that would enable him to attend.

By passing out, he'd lost more time than he could afford to lose. Now it was late, he was tired, and it was harder to focus after the incident with the artifact. Now that he thought about, he wondered what had happened to it. Hadn't Marik insisted that he have it? He glanced over at Mokuba's backpack, which had felt heavier than usual; he had attributed that to his being tired and sore, but now he wondered. He got up and opened it, the eye of Ra glaring brightly at him from the inside of his brother's backpack. He took it out, not sure what he was going to do with it. If his father found it, he would pawn it in a heartbeat. He couldn't let his brother carry around something so valuable, for a number of reasons. That meant that Seto would need to keep it on his person at all times, for safety. When he next saw Marik, he would give it back, but until then, he'd keep it safe.

He hesitated before tucking it into his own backpack, looking into its eye again. How had this made him pass out? Did Mr. Bakura think that it had been caused by magic? Absurd. Seto didn't believe in anything outside of what science and empiricism could prove. That's not to say that he discounted intuition or emotion, for emotions could be displayed on fMRI brain scans and intuition was just the subconscious picking up on details that the conscious mind didn't grasp. In Seto's young life, there had never been anything that convinced him of any such thing as providence, luck, destiny, fate, karma, ghosts, spirits, demons, angels, monsters, gods, or anything else of the sort. You can't depend on luck or fate to give you anything in life, you could only depend on yourself, and, conversely, you could only blame yourself when your efforts failed.

He carefully tucked the scepter into the hidden inner pocket of his backpack, hoping it would be enough to protect it from damage. Then he actually set about doing his homework, which took him until four in the morning to complete. When he was finished putting his things away, he crossed his arms on the table in front of him and lay his head down on them, letting his eyes close for just a few moments…

He jerked awake an hour and a half later, at his normal wake-up time. He was incredibly stiff from sleeping in a seated position. Great, just great. Barely any sleep, already in bad condition, and extremely sore from sleeping in a chair: his weekly visit with Gozaburo was going to be especially torturous tonight. He stood with a groan and stretched, trying to ease some of the pain from his taut muscles. At least their substitute gym coach was much more lenient than Coach Trudge; that made the day less daunting, but only slightly.


	9. Challenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Text in bold denotes quotes from/allusions to the musical "Hamilton."

Seto tried to stand as straight as possible in order to keep the fabric of his shirt from rubbing against the skin of his back. He would be trying to keep it from being touched at all for a few days, at least. Gozaburo had flogged him until his entire back felt raw and he didn't think he would ever move again; that's what Seto got for being too tired or sore to adequately satisfy the cruel corporation president. Any contact at all made it sting, and the more it came into contact with anything, like his shirt, the more the raw skin burned.

Once he'd gotten dressed, he'd pocketed the money and entered the elevator to go back to the ground floor and finally head home for the night. He was about a third of the way down when the elevator stopped, and Seto started. The doors opened, and he was faced with a teen who looked like he could be Seto's twin, even though his hair had been dyed a vibrant neon green.

He had the same lanky form as Seto, same height, same proportions. Even their eyes were the same piercing shade of sapphire blue. The other smirked as he stepped inside the elevator and pushed the button to take him to Gozaburo's office. The doors closed as they stood side by side and the carriage continued its descent.

"So you're my father's little whore."

The smooth voice, the mocking tone, the arrogant attitude, his own severe physical pain: it was more than enough to make Seto snap.

Seto turned on the other teen, catching him in the jaw with a closed fist. The other looked surprised as he was knocked into the wall of the elevator, as if he wasn't used to physical retaliation. Seto turned to face the elevator doors again, feeling smug.

"You're no better than me, Moneybags."

"Do you have any _idea_ who I am?" Noah sounded outraged as he rubbed his aching jaw.

"Yes. You're Noah Kaiba, international chess champion, heir to the Kaiba Corporation, and tabloid playboy. You're no better than me." And one of the four owners of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, although he kept that to himself. It wasn't public knowledge, and the only reason Seto knew was because of his weekly visits to the KaibaCorp Headquarters. There was no need to say it aloud. Seto threw a glare at Noah. "I would even venture to say that I'm _better_ than you."

"How _dare_ you!" Noah was furious. "You're worth less than the dirt on my shoes, you slut!"

"How about you put your money where your mouth is?" Seto returned, turning to face the entitled, rebellious teen. This was either one of the stupidest decisions of his life or one of the smartest things he'd ever done. Maybe he was lashing out because of his frustrations with his situation, or maybe he just hated Gozaburo so much that taking it out on his son was good enough. They stood **toe to toe** , enmity crackling in the air between them like electricity.

"What did you have in mind?"

"How about a chess match?"

Noah laughed cruelly.

"Alright, fine. I'll enjoy wiping the floor with you. If I win, you'll become _my_ little toy instead of my father's." He crossed his arms, looking confident that Seto would back down at the prospect of such high stakes.

"And if I win," Seto said as he crossed his arms. "Then you have to give me your Blue-Eyes White Dragon card." Even he knew that it was far too risky to try and ask for money. That would only end in violence and a legal mess.

"Then it's a match." Noah raised one eyebrow, looking as smug as if he'd already won. "Meet me on the forty-fifth floor, Saturday, at midnight. If you're late, you'll lose automatically."

"I won't be late."

"See you then."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Seto walked out of the elevator, the rush of adrenaline fueling him as he walked all the way to Ryou's house. He didn't want to step inside and get side-tracked again. However, as Ryou told Mokuba to get his things together (you would think that he'd have learned by now to be ready for when his brother came to pick him up), Mr. Bakura stepped up to the door.

"Can I talk with you briefly Seto?" he asked.

"I need to get Mokuba home. Tomorrow's a school day."

"It'll only take a few minutes," the archaeologist insisted as he joined Seto and closed the door behind him. "Why don't we sit down?"

"If it'll only take a few moments, sir, I'd rather not." In truth, Seto was in too much pain to sit down without his pain showing. He'd somehow forgotten to bring his pain-killers along with him tonight, which meant that he was still in some rather excruciating pain. It was only years of carefully practiced control over his expressions that allowed him to hide the constant hum of pain he felt. Any irritation of his wounds, though, and he didn't think he could hide the increase of pain.

"How about we go for a stroll around the block, then?" Mr. Bakura offered, seeming congenial and calm, so Seto nodded reluctantly. The two of them began to **walk side by side** , Seto still on edge despite the relaxed manner the older man adopted.

"My son says you work a lot of hours."

"That's true."

"Where do you work?"

"I'm a bartender at The Underground, a club downtown."

"Ryou told me that. I checked into it, though, and I found that you were fired several months ago for disruptive behavior. What was that about?"

Seto snorted disdainfully. "I stood up to a rake. Apparently, because he was a customer, I wasn't allowed to tell him _not_ to molest a young woman who told him no," Seto snapped. He was still bitter about losing that job just for trying to do the right thing. Technically, he'd lost his job for starting a bar brawl that broke a few stools, several glasses, and disrupted the patrons, but that only happened because he'd been doing the right thing.

"And before that, you worked as a waiter at a steakhouse, yes?" Seto stopped in his tracks, his jaw clenching. "Keep walking, Seto." Something about his calm, unassuming tone prompted Seto to keep walking. "That was your job before The Underground, yes?"

"Yes, sir."

They turned a corner.

"And how did you lose that job?"

"I was assaulted by the restaurant manager, sir." Seto hoped that his cheeks didn't betray the nature of the assault.

"I see." Clearly, Mr. Bakura didn't need a blush to tell him what happened. "And before that you were a clerk in the library? What happened there?"

"Yes, sir. I was let go by the library because they needed to make staff cuts due to tax reforms. The economy's not what it used to be."

"You speak like you're much older than you are, Seto," Mr. Bakura observed casually.

"I've had to act much older than I am for most of my life, so I guess that makes sense."

"What do you mean by that?"

Silence.

"You're very polite as well. Did your parents raise you that way?"

"No, sir." There was a bitter laugh in his voice that he didn't care enough to hide.

"How long ago did your mother die, Seto?"

A pause.

"Eleven years ago."

"And your father…?" Bakura had no idea what Seto's father was like, because Ryou didn't know either.

"What about him, sir?" Seto had his guard up. He always hated when people pried into his personal life.

"What's he like? Where does he work?"

"He doesn't," Seto answered tersely. "He's alcoholic, and he uses my money to get what he needs. That's why I work so many hours. I provide for all of us." Bakura was silent for a few moments, thinking this over as they turned a second corner.

"You seem honest by nature, Seto, so I'm curious as to why you've been lying for so long about where you work."

Silence.

"Where _do_ you work?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, sir, but that's none of your business." Mr. Bakura may be trustworthy enough for Seto to tell him about his father, but he'd be damned if he was about to divulge his darkest secrets.

"Where did you come from just now?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but if I told you that, I could get both of us in a lot of trouble."

"Does that mean that you're in trouble right now, Seto?" Silence for a while, and Bakura was about to give up on that question when he heard Seto inhale deeply, as if preparing to speak.

"I…" Seto's voice faltered and failed, and he suddenly felt very vulnerable. He didn't even know what he'd thought he was gonna say. He hadn't expected Ryou's father to talk circles around his head and screw with his thoughts like this, otherwise he would've been more careful.

"You know, Seto, you can trust me with anything," Mr. Bakura assured, lifting a hand and giving him a pat on the back of his shoulder, only to see Seto nearly double over as he groaned in pain. "Seto! Are you alright?" he said as he stopped and bent down to see what was wrong. Seto quickly straightened up with a grunt, side-stepping to put distance between the two of them.

"Don't touch me," Seto snapped, grimacing in pain. The pain was clearly severe enough to affect both his breathing and his posture.

"What's wrong, Seto? Where are you hurt?" Bakura was persistent, though he didn't try to touch him again.

"Nothing, I'm fine." It was a well-practiced lie. Seto didn't think he was even capable of saying otherwise anymore. The truth was too painful, and that lie was so _easy_ , much too easy… as easy as swallowing more painkillers to hide the truth from everyone around him. He continued to walk forward, turning the third street corner as Mr. Bakura watched from behind, his eyes widening in shock.

"Stop!" Seto froze. "You're bleeding through your shirt." Bakura's voice held that same mixture of shock and concern that he had seen on Joey's face over a month ago when _he'd_ first learned the truth. Mr. Bakura was at his side quickly, reaching for Seto again, but the brunette flinched away from his hand.

"Don't. Touch. Me," he repeated, emphasizing each word. Seto's tone and posture reminded Mr. Bakura of when he encountered an injured crocodile in Egypt, ready to snap at anything that came near.

"Okay, I won't," he said calmly, hoping that his own calm would help Seto to relax. "But we need to get you back to the house." Seto just nodded and they walked back to the house at a quicker pace, both silent as Bakura watched his son's friend carefully, thinking over everything he'd learned. Seto hadn't had a mother since he was five, and his father had proved to be undependable and unstable. Seto, having taken the role of primary care provider for his family, had subjugated his own needs and desires to the needs and desires of his little brother. He'd fallen into something bad, and while he could make some guesses, he didn't want to assume anything. Besides, Seto was clearly mistrusting, and if he made any kind of assumption about him it might drive him away.

When they came back to the front steps, Bakura went first. His hand was on the doorknob when Seto stopped him.

"Sir, before we go in there, you need to promise me something." Bakura turned around to see Seto standing with that perfectly straight posture he'd had before, his chin set stubbornly.

"I'm listening."

"I'll only go in there and let you help me **if you promise not to tell anyone about this,** any of this. Not Ryou, not your wife, not the authorities, not child services, nobody at all. Can you promise me that?" Ryou's father was silent for a moment, contemplating the implications of such a promise.

"I will promise you that only if you promise to let me help you, and not just this one time. Let me help you get out of whatever trouble you're in. If you get hurt like this again, come back and let me take care of you. I won't take action or seek outside help without your permission, but I want you to trust me and tell me what's going on."

"Fine." Seto was in too much pain to deny the offer.

"Then it's a promise." Mr. Bakura held out his hand and Seto shook it, sealing the deal. "Come on, let's get you taken care of."

* * *

Ryou had overseen Mokuba getting his things together, but had noticed with surprise when he glanced out the window that Seto and his father seemed to be going for a walk. He told Mokuba to wait on the couch while Ryou got Amane to bed; the two of them were awake way too late already, and tomorrow was a school day. The two children gave each other a goodnight hug—which Ryou couldn't help but perceive as totally adorable—then he took Amane upstairs. When he came down again, it was just in time to see Seto and his father re-enter the house through the front door. Mokuba started to stand up, but his father stopped him.

"Mokuba can you please wait here with Ryou until we come back?" was all his father said, glancing at Ryou for confirmation, who nodded in answer. Then he glanced at Seto, but his face was turned away, so Ryou couldn't get any hints from him as to what was going on. He had just reached the couch when he glanced after them again as his father led Seto down the hall, noticing with a small gasp the fresh blood stain on the back of Seto's shirt.

"What's going on?" Mokuba asked, tugging on Ryou's hand to get his attention. Ryou looked down at him with a small smile and held his hand comfortingly.

"My dad just wants to talk to your brother for a bit, okay?" Ryou sat down next to Mokuba, who lay down and put his head in Ryou's lap. "Have you been getting enough sleep, lately, Mokuba?"

"No, but I sleep more than Seto," the child answered tiredly. "I don't think he got to bed at all last night. We catch up on the weekends, though."

Ryou smiled a little sadly as he said, "How about you get some sleep now while we wait for him?"

"Okay…" Mokuba yawned as he closed his eyes, snuggling against the teen he considered to be a secondary brother. He dozed off rather quickly, and Ryou busied himself combing the tangles out of Mokuba's hair with his fingers and contemplating the blood on Seto's shirt. What had happened? Just how much was his friend hiding from him?


	10. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Text in bold denotes quotes from/allusions to the musical "Hamilton."

"How did you know about my past jobs?" Seto asked before he hissed again at the burning sensation of the wet washcloth touching his fresh wounds once more. He'd only let the archaeologist see his back; he was still hiding the bruises for as long as he could. He could only traverse the road to recovery one step at a time.

"I have a friend in law enforcement who owed me a favor; I asked him to look into your employment records for me." He continued to clean the raw stripes on Seto's back, wincing himself whenever Seto vocalized his pain. "You need to stop pulling away, or I'll never finish this."

Seto grit his teeth and did his best to merely bear the pain in silence while Ryou's father focused on tending to his injuries. Of course, the silence was too good to last long.

" **Who did this** to you?"

Seto remained silent at first. "If I'm not ready to answer a question yet, then I don't have to," he said quietly. He couldn't be rushed through this. He still wasn't sure if he shouldn't already be regretting his decision to trust him.

"Fair enough." He thought for several moments, trying to choose a question that would be easier for him to answer. "Why, then?"

"For his own pleasure," Seto muttered.

"His?"

Silence.

"How long has _this_ been going on?" It was all too obvious that this wasn't the first time he'd been lashed. The fresh wounds couldn't hide the older wounds and scars.

"It started not long after I lost my last job." It was easier to say when they started than it was to say how long he'd been thrashed on a weekly basis. Not that thrashing was the only thing happening on a weekly basis, or even a daily basis.

"How often does it occur?"

Seto choked on the words for a moment. "Every Thursday."

"Does that mean that I can expect to see you back here next Thursday?"

"Well, I'll be here to pick up Mokuba, so yes."

"Do you see an end to this anytime soon?"

"No," he admitted with a sigh.

"Why do you let it happen?"

Silence.

"You assume that I have a choice."

It wasn't quite an answer, but he figured it was the best he would get from him today.

"Is your father violent?"

"Only when he's drunk."

"How often is he drunk?"

"Too often."

"Has he ever caused you or your brother physical harm?"

"I've always protected Mokuba."

"And has he ever hurt _you_?"

Silence.

"When did he become alcoholic?"

"A few years after Mom died. He was still working, then, still trying to keep it together."

"How long after he became alcoholic did he become violent?"

"Not very long."

"Did he ever hit you when you were a child?"

"I couldn't let him hurt Mokuba."

What kind of an answer was _that_?

"How old was Mokuba the first time he hit you?"

"Four years old." That would make Seto nine at the time.

"Does he still hurt you?"

Silence.

"Did he do _this_ to you?" Bakura really hoped not.

Seto opened his mouth to answer but closed it again. If his silence kept Mr. Bakura from guessing at the awful truth before he was ready to reveal it, then yes, he was willing to deceive through omission.

"If you don't answer my questions, I can't help you," Mr. Bakura sighed, pausing in his ministrations to get the antibacterial ointment out of the first aid kit. When he began to spread the substance over the raw flesh, Seto grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to cope with the pain. There was another pause in the conversation.

"My son told me a while ago that you stood up for him in gym class when the coach was overstepping his bounds. Thank you."

"Ryou's a good person. He didn't deserve that treatment."

"I would argue that the same thing holds true for you."

"With all due respect, you hardly know me, sir."

"I know enough to see that you're a hard worker, a protective brother, a good student. You manage your finances carefully. You juggle being a student, providing for your family, and raising your brother with impressive results. The way you defend others is honorable—Ryou's told me how you've always stood up to bullies, even for the sake of strangers. There are so many in circumstances as hard as yours who just give up, but you didn't, and that says something about your character."

It felt incredibly strange to be praised, complimented. He almost felt like he needed to deflect it somehow, to show how depraved he really was, because Bakura's lofty impression of him simply wasn't accurate.

"I don't think I would be all those things if it weren't for Mokuba," he said quietly. "I don't fight for myself. I work hard to give _him_ a better future and to make the present not so bad."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. Just because the need to look out for your brother is what prompted you to be who you are, it doesn't make you any less honorable or good."

Seto didn't know what to say to that, so he remained silent as the archaeologist began to spread gauze over his back, securing it with medical tape.

"These should be left on for a few days at least."

Seto nodded, unwilling to tell him that he simply wouldn't be able to keep them on for even a full twenty-four hours.

"How much sleep do you get on average per night, would you say?"

"Four to five hours, usually. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a lot less. I only get full nights of sleep on the weekend."

"How come you never told anybody about your father, never asked anybody for help?" Seto chose his words carefully, not wanting to speak inaccuracies by accident.

"We have no extended family in the area, not that I know of anyways. At the least, we don't have many who were on good terms with my parents when my mother died. I think… I had a cousin who started going to college in Domino a few months afterward, and, if I remember correctly, my father paid her to come by and take care of Mokuba, since he was still so little then and my father needed to work. So at first, things were okay. My dad was distant, detached, but he wasn't doing anything _wrong_ at that point. My cousin graduated college and left, and by then I was old enough to take care of Mokuba myself." Bakura had to wonder how Seto thought that nine years old was old enough to take care of _anybody_. "My dad had had a pretty good job for a while at that point; he'd been working at the same place for several years, since before Mokuba was born. After my cousin left, though, my dad started to slowly fall apart. He lost his job, and that was when he started drinking." He hesitated, not wanting to think about the details of the first time he'd seen his father drunk. "It was only intermittent at first, and he got another job, though it wasn't quite the same. It didn't pay as well and he didn't like it as much." He found that he had to pause again, trying to remember why he'd started into this story in the first place and where he was going with it. "He had a few different jobs after that point. He lost them as his drinking got worse. Things kept falling apart, and we lost the house when I was twelve, then we moved to the apartment we're in now. By this point, I was aware that things had gotten pretty bad, but I also understood that if I told someone what was going on, Mokuba and I would be taken from our dad and put in the system, where we'd probably get separated. I couldn't let Mokuba be on his own, so I've done what I can since then to help us survive so that we could stay together. When I graduate, I plan on appealing to the system for sole custody of my brother so that we don't ever have to worry about being separated."

Silence lingered between them for a few minutes as Mr. Bakura finished taping gauze to the teen's back.

"Well, that's the best I can do. Now you just need some time to let it heal, and you should be fine." Seto nodded and pulled his shirt back on before he turned around, not wanting to share anymore of himself tonight. Ryou's father put away the first-aid kit before turning to address Seto again. "I'm sure your brother must have fallen asleep by now. Do you need me to give you a ride home?"

"No, thank you," Seto answered automatically, even though by now the adrenaline from his encounter with Noah Kaiba was long gone and last night's hour and a half of sleep was taking its toll, nevermind his body's bruised and weakened state.

"Nonsense, you look like you could fall asleep standing up. It won't be any trouble at all." Seto didn't have the energy to argue, so he merely let Mr. Bakura lead him back into the main living area where Ryou and Mokuba had fallen asleep together on the couch. Bakura got his car keys while Seto shouldered Mokuba's backpack and then went to lift Mokuba into his arms. He carried his sleeping brother out to Mr. Bakura's car and sat with him in the back-seat, not wanting to leave him on his own back there. He gave his friend's father his address and sat back in his seat, trying not to fall asleep himself.

* * *

Seto and Mokuba had gone to sleep as soon as they got home. Seto had hoped to sleep well, but it seemed like his brain had different plans for him. Now, Seto had never been one to dream often. Even when their life had gradually descended into misery, his father had become alcoholic, and he'd been forced into prostitution, he'd never had nightmares. If he'd ever had any as a child, he didn't remember ever having them. That night, however, he had his first nightmare, and what a nightmare it was.

_He was running in the desert, running as fast as he could, even as his lungs burned and he gasped for air. He knew that something bad would happen if he stopped running, but he didn't know what. He stumbled onward through the darkness, not even daring to look back over his shoulder, but soon enough the lack of oxygen made him dizzy and his vision blurred. He ran on despite this, but soon tripped and came to a painful stop in the dusty sand. He scrambled back to his feet only to have a heavy hand seize his shoulder. He cried out as he struggled against it, but soon there were many hands seizing him, grabbing him in strong, cruel hands that caused him pain and forced him to his knees. The human presence surrounding him was suffocating, and he shouted protests as he wildly kicked and fought to free himself._

_"Don't touch me! Let go! Don't touch me! Let go of me!"_

_His cries remained unheeded as panic rose in his chest, making him frantic and incapable of thinking about anything but his need to be free of the hands that held him down, now pushing him from kneeling to lying face-down in the sand._

_"Stop! Let go of me!" he screamed._

Seto's eyes flew open to find himself sleeping on his back, his sheets tangled as if he'd slept restlessly last night, which was unusual for him. With a groan, he rolled onto his stomach, still trying to catch his breath. His dream had unnerved him, and he needed a few moments to collect himself before he could get up and shower. One thing that he couldn't figure out, though: Why had he been in the desert?

* * *

Seto was quiet at breakfast with Mokuba and at lunch with Ryou, Yugi, and Joey, bothered by the events of last night as well as his dream. Besides, he was also mentally going over everything he knew about chess strategies, especially what he knew about Noah Kaiba's chess strategies. He needed to be prepared for his match tomorrow night.

"Hey Seto! Earth to Seto! Hey, are you in there?" Yugi's voice finally snapped Seto out of his reverie.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, looking up to see that all three of his friends were staring at him.

"Whatchya doin'?" Joey asked, peering at the piece of paper Seto had in front of him, where the brunette had been writing a long list of letter-number pairs.

"I'm going over a chess strategy," he explained as the blond stared at the chess coordinates with a confused expression.

"Don't hurt yourself too hard trying to think, Joey," Anzu said as she entered the room, joining the four boys amiably.

"Why the sudden fascination with chess?" Yugi asked curiously.

"I have a chess match with someone tomorrow. I've played for years, so I know I'm good, but my opponent is also very good, and I don't want to lose," Seto answered calmly.

"Why is it so important that you win?" Joey asked suspiciously, one eyebrow raised. As Seto thought about his bet with Noah, he couldn't help but allow himself a self-satisfied half-smirk.

"Let's just say I have a lot riding on this match," he answered breezily, hoping they would drop the subject, but Joey was getting excited.

"You made a bet, didn'tchya? I'll bet you did!"

" _Did_ you make a bet?" Ryou asked, his eyes wide as the word "bet" triggered everything he knew about gambling.

"Not for money," Seto assured, which satisfied Ryou.

"What do you get if you win?" Yugi asked, looking eager as well. Seto hesitated. He didn't want to tell his friends that he had a shot at winning the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in case he lost and had to come back to school on Monday to tell them that he'd failed.

"If I win, I'll tell you."

"Aw, c'mon, we all know you're gonna win anyways, so why not tell us now?" Joey griped.

"It's true: you're the undefeated champion of the chess club," Ryou pointed out. "I can't imagine there being anybody better than you."

Seto felt uncomfortable receiving all of that praise and sat stiff and flustered for a moment, but he was saved from responding by the ring of the school bell.

* * *


	11. Checkmate

Saturday morning, Seto indulged himself just a little bit. He understood that presentation mattered, and since he planned on graduating high school very soon indeed, it wasn't so much an indulgence as it was an early purchase of something he'd need to buy sooner or later. He'd gone to the consignment store and gotten some nicer clothes, which included a trenchcoat the deep color of midnight. It was worth the money, especially since he knew that if he didn't make himself look somewhat presentable, Noah would give him hell for it. He had taken the gold scepter with him when he went out to "work" that night, although he couldn't properly justify to himself why he had done this.

Of course, magic didn't exist, so that voice in his head urging him to take the scepter with him for when he faced off Noah was just his imagination. Yet, he had listened to the voice, tucking the artifact through one of the beltloops of his pants, but behind him, where the coat could hide it. He felt different as he walked down the sidewalk towards KaibaCorp HQ. He felt less like a victim and more like a victor, even though he hadn't even won the game yet. This feeling stayed with him up until the point where he entered the forty-fifth floor of the tall office building and was led by a security guard to a meeting room where a chess board had been set up in the middle of the table and Noah Kaiba was waiting for him. Seto was fifteen minutes early, which made Noah scowl.

"Alright, let's get on with this," Noah said as if he were already bored. "I'm a busy person, so you should be grateful that I made time for you in my schedule." The guard took up a position along the wall, fading into the shadows as the two teens faced each other.

"Right, because at this time of night, you'd usually already be drunk at a club," Seto retorted, unable to keep the nastiness out of his voice. Something about Noah Kaiba made his skin crawl and the bile rise in his throat; that spoiled, arrogant snob needed to be put in his place, and Seto would take pleasure in doing so.

* * *

Until this point, Seth had been content to remain as an observer of Seto's life, learning what he was and what he did, but there were times when he did wish to interfere. It grieved his soul to see his reincarnation selling his body just to make a living, tortured his heart to see how it was affecting Seto and what he had to do to cope. If he could have interfered with that, he would have, but he was always too far to do so, since Seto would leave the Millennium Rod with his coat when he went to be with a client. If he could have had his way, he would have taken Seto far from the people who wished to use him then throw him away.

Until this point, he'd been unable to stop Seto from what he was doing, but now that his host was about to sit down to chess with a young man whose heart was filled with a tangible evil, he could no longer sit idly by. If he didn't step in, things might get terribly out of hand.

_Forgive me, Seto, but I can't let you do this alone._

* * *

"Roland is going to make sure that nobody cheats during this match. Whoever's caught cheating will be forced into automatic surrender," Noah was saying as Seth took control and gently sealed away Seto's soul, protecting the teen from what was about to happen.

"Believe me, _I_ will not be cheating," Seth said smoothly, seating himself across the table from his opponent. Since Noah's focus was on Seth, he didn't realize that dark, swirling fog had materialized around them, enveloping the three of them and the table. "Did you bring the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card?"

"Although I highly doubt it will be leaving my possession, yes, I did." Noah pulled the card out of his wallet and held it up to show Seth the image on the card.

"Good, lay it on the table next to the chess board." Noah did so; he was willing to play a fair game, and in truth, he was sincerely hoping that this match would actually present a challenge to him. He was awfully board with his life, taking joy in few to none of his daily activities. Sure, he was a genius, but that meant that nothing was difficult enough to provide adequate intellectual stimulation. That's why he'd turned to partying, which did him little good in the end. He wanted this to be challenging, yes, but in the end, he had to win.

"As a means of ensuring fair play, I propose we play a Shadow Game. That way, we won't need to use our hands to move the pieces and there's no way for either of us to cheat."

Noah opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask what he meant by a "Shadow Game," but just then Seth had begun to warp the room, stretching out the space between him and Noah even as they both rose up on towers of dark matter and the chess board became a large, checkered battlefield beneath them, the pieces taking on new life. Of course, each set of chess pieces took on identities from the respective players' memories and souls. Seth's pawns were represented by a green-clad knight in dragon armor (a past reincarnation that Seth recognized as Christian Seto Rosenkreuz), his bishops were represented by his own Egyptian self, his knights were the legendary knight Critias (who had been reincarnated through Seth) riding his own dragon form, his rooks were the spirit of the proud Kaibaman, his king was Seto Kaiba, looking stronger and more confident than he was at this point in his life in this universe. And his queen, his powerful, precious queen… She tipped her head back to look up at Seth with a gracious smile, her blue eyes gentle and affectionate.

"Kisara…" he whispered, unable to help himself as he stared down at his long-lost lover.

This was a part of the Shadow powers Seth had best channeled in Egypt as pharaoh: tapping into the metaphysical stream of consciousness that could draw from a single soul's past, present, and future.

"What have you done?! What is this?!" Noah shrieked, completely out of sorts as he stared around him and at the chess board. "You've drugged me!" he shouted, pointing an accusatory finger in Seth's direction. Seth just chuckled and crossed his arms, now holding the Millennium Rod in his right hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We're just two ordinary teenagers sitting down to a high-stakes game of chess. That's what he sees, anyways," Seth said, nodding in the direction of the man Noah had called Roland. Noah looked furious, but Seth remained calm. "Come now, let's do what we came here to do. Shall you go first, or shall I?"

"We'll determine it with a coin toss," the green-haired teen snapped. Noah was still angry and confused, but he was confused enough that he couldn't resist Seth's attempts to get the game on track. He pulled a silver dollar out of his pocket and tossed it into the air, catching it and laying it on the back of his hand without looking.

"Your call," Seth said graciously, his eyes flashing.

"Heads." Noah looked at the coin and scowled. "It's tails."

"Then I'll go first. Pawn to E3." One of the eight green knights on the chess board strode forward until he was centered in the square directly in front of him. Strange that even his pawns, the lowest pieces on the board, were represented by someone noble.

"Hm. That's _my_ opening move. Couldn't come up with a strategy of your own? Pawn to E6," Noah snapped, and one of his pawns, a small raven-haired girl, stepped forward to mimic the other pawn's movements. Seeing his little sister move as his pawn made something uncomfortable stir inside of Noah, but he pushed down the strange feeling. He needed to focus. He needed to win, if only for the sake of his pride.

Seth smirked. He'd tapped into Seto's knowledge and understanding of chess, and as the myriad of master strategies filled his mind, he felt certain that there was no way he'd lose this game. They continued the game, one move at a time. The first time a piece was taken, it was Seth's bishop slaying one of Noah's pawns. Noah winced as he watched, his eyes wide as he was faced with the vision of his little sister being cut down in cold blood.

"She didn't—she's not—I mean, you didn't really—" Noah was tripping over his words as what was left of his humanity surfaced briefly, rebelling against what he'd just seen.

"Don't worry," Seth assured with an amused chuckle. "This is just a drug-induced hallucination after all, isn't it?" Noah grunted in frustration, glaring at his opponent.

"Don't be such a smart-ass!" he yelled back, having shaken off the shock of the gore. He made his next move, and the game continued. Noah was surprised that a prostitute was capable of implementing such complex chess strategies, and he found that as much as he wished to crush him in this game, he truly was enjoying the challenge. Gradually, one by one, the number of pieces on the board dwindled. As Seth contemplated his next move, Seto Kaiba turned his head to look up at him, arms crossed and hips jutted casually forward in a cocky sort of confidence. It seemed to be his default stance.

"Don't screw this up!"

Seth nodded to his king, acknowledging his words even as Noah gasped in shock.

"They can _talk_?!"

"Of course they can talk," Seth retorted. "They're people too, you know." He faced Seto Kaiba again, curious about the alternate universe he had come from.

"What's your story? How did you become a Kaiba, if I might ask?"

"Our father died a few years after our mother did," his king answered. "And he"—Kaiba nodded in Noah's direction—"died in a car accident when he was ten. We were in an orphanage for a few years before Gozaburo, the international chess champion at the time, visited as part of a publicity stunt. I challenged him to a game of chess, and if I won, he had to adopt Mokuba and I." He smirked with satisfaction. "Obviously, he underestimated me, and I won." He frowned then, and sighed almost imperceptibly. "Gozaburo abused me in the name of education for several years before I overthrew him and took control of KaibaCorp and my own life. Everything I have, I earned through hard work and determination. I don't depend on anybody for anything, because in the end, we're all alone in this world. People may call me cold and heartless, more machine than human, but I don't care. They speak out of ignorance, so their words are meaningless." He lifted his chin proudly. "All that matters is that I know the truth."

Seth found himself sobered by the story. "Thank you for telling me," he said with another nod, showing respect to the corporation president acting as his king in this match of Shadow chess. Although it wasn't the actual soul of Seto Kaiba, it was a mirror of his soul, a reflection of it, which meant that it was identical to its source.

Seth then called out, "Knight to G7." Critias moved accordingly, his dragon leaping into the air to fly to the assigned square. The dragon landed gracefully, and Critias studied his new surroundings as if trying to anticipate Seth's next move.

"Queen to A5," Noah commanded, and his queen, a woman from Noah's life that Seth could not identify, moved to where she'd been told, even as her expression turned dubious. Were his own pieces doubting him?

"Bishop to H8," Seth ordered, and the High Priest Seth walked with dignity to the designated position. So the game continued, and Noah grew increasingly distressed. He was losing. More of his pieces were slaughtered and disappeared from the board, and he began to feel cornered. It wasn't hopeless, though. It couldn't possibly be. He was a champion. He couldn't lose this.

"I'm disappointed in you, Noah." Gozaburo, Noah's king, was speaking to his son now that he had only five pieces on the board. "You should have destroyed him by now. Clearly, you've learned nothing from all my lessons about how to annihilate your enemies without mercy." Noah's expression twisted into one of horror.

"No, father, I've learned from you!" he insisted. "I'm doing my best. Just you wait and see! I'll make you proud, Father!"

Seth shook his head sadly as he watched the exchange. "You'll eat your words, Noah Kaiba." It wasn't a boast: it was a warning. For in the next few turns, Seth had killed his remaining pieces defending his king. Seth had two bishops, at G2 and G3, two knights, at E2 and F4, two rooks at C3 and D2, Kisara at C1, Seto Kaiba at H5, and one queened pawn (Rosenkreuz now riding a Blue-Eyes White Dragon) at B3 all left on the board. While he'd taken minimal damage, Noah had lost everything but his king, a disgruntled Gozaburo standing on H2.

"Checkmate."

"No…" Noah's eyes were wide as he stared at the chess-board, stunned. This couldn't be true. He was a genius, a champion. "No, no, no! You must have cheated! That's the only way you could have won!" Kisara stepped forward, lifting a shining silver sword in her hands.

"You have failed me, Noah!" Gozaburo shouted at his son, looking like the embodiment of rage itself. Kisara approached Gozaburo, looking grave and calm, a sharp contrast to the opposing king.

"You must have cheated!" Noah insisted, pointing at Seth once more as he threw a temper tantrum. Kisara held the sword in both hands above her head.

"You have failed!" were Gozaburo's last words before Kisara plunged the heavy sword into his heart. Gozaburo fell, bleeding, onto the chess board.

"I did not cheat, Noah," Seth said, his face serious. "You lost because of your own disrespect for life. If you do not honor your pieces and their sacrifice, how are you supposed to win? When you sacrifice them so easily, how will you ever know when to stop? You will sacrifice and sacrifice until you have nothing left. You lost and you have nobody to blame but yourself." Noah was still in shock as the world around them contracted and reshaped itself into the meeting room on the forty-fifth floor of KaibaCorp Headquarters.

Seth picked up the Blue-Eyes card from the table, relieved that his beloved was no longer in the clutches of such a black-hearted scoundrel. He tucked it safely away in an inside pocket of his coat as he stood. He couldn't give control back to Seto just yet, even though the danger had passed. He didn't want to disorient him anymore than necessary, didn't want him to get himself into anymore trouble than necessary, so he'd have to remain in control for a little while yet. He held out his hand to Noah.

"Thank you for the match."

Noah glared at him with fire and venom, arms stubbornly crossed. Seth lowered his hand and shrugged, then nodded politely to Roland before putting his hands in his pockets and walking to the elevator. Tonight, while Seto slept, he would plant some false memories of the chess game in Seto's mind. He knew that he needed to ease his hikari into this arrangement; he'd already been through so much, he didn't need anything else upsetting him.

* * *

When Seto came to himself again, it was to find himself at Ryou's house picking up Mokuba. He felt somewhat dazed, only speaking when spoken to as he was preoccupied with trying to recall what had just happened. Well, it was almost one in the morning, so he was getting Mokuba—who was asleep—from the Bakura household. That meant that he was done with "work" for the night. He could remember seeing his clients, he could remember collecting payment, he could remember making his weekly payment to the pimp. Yet, he felt like there was a hole in the sequence of events. What had he done when he finished with his last client? He could only draw a blank. He racked his brains for the missing memory as he carried his sleeping brother home, starting to worry that perhaps his last client had drugged him, or that perhaps something far more sinister had happened between the last thing he remembered and finding himself at Ryou's house. He was too exhausted to stay awake worrying over it, though, and he went to bed as soon as he got home, falling into a deep sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Fun-Facts: "Don't screw this up!" is something that Seto Kaiba says to Yugi/Yami at least once in the main series anime; in the manga, Seto Kaiba tells Yugi/Yami during the Battle City finals that he was "abused in the name of education." Christian Seto Rosenkreuz is from the "Duelist of the Roses" videogame. Kaibaman is a Duel Monsters card from the Yu-Gi-Oh GX canon. Legendary Knight/Dragon Critias is from Yu-Gi-Oh Season Four. The first moves of the chess game are the same as the first moves of the canon chess game between Seto and Gozaburo in Season Three. All of the moves inside the chess game are complete bollocks, but the checkmate is legit.
> 
> I also kind of just imagine the Seto Kaiba chess piece looking up at Seth and being like, "Pft, I haven't worn THAT since Duelist Kingdom."


	12. Stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter is a little more intense with the violence than previous ones, mostly because this has the first full scene with the loathsome Gozaburo Kaiba. I hate him. -_- You have been warned!

The next morning, Seto found that he was able to recall that missing chunk of memory: he'd gone to KaibaCorp and faced Noah in chess, trouncing him soundly and taking the Blue-Eyes as his own. Seto reached for his coat, which he'd been too tired to put anywhere but on the floor last night, and pulled the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card out of the inner pocket. He could hardly believe it. It brought a full, warm smile to his face like nothing else had in a long time.

At school on Monday, his friends were eager to hear if he'd won his chess match; honestly, Seto hadn't expected them to remember. He'd just assumed they would have forgotten something so trivial. He told them that yes, he had won, and even showed them the set-up of the checkmate, to which his friends had responded with such praise as, "We always knew you would win," and, "Nobody's better than you at chess." Again, Seto didn't know how to respond to such praise.

Rather than tell them outright what he'd won, he'd told them that it was a Duel Monsters card, and that the only way they would see it would be if it came up in his deck during a duel. He'd alternated between dueling Yugi and Joey and Ryou at lunch and after school each day that week, and the Blue-Eyes card had yet to come up. Of course, it didn't help that Seto usually beat Joey fairly quickly, and that every time he dueled Yugi, they ran out of time and couldn't complete the duel.

Ryou was possibly the most difficult Seto faced, actually. His Destiny Board strategy was deadly, and Seto wasn't always able to pull himself out of it each time Ryou employed it. For the first time that he could think of, he almost felt normal. He wasn't fully normal, of course, because he was still dragging himself to school a half hour before classes so that he could work on coding his computer program at the school library, since he lacked a computer of his own. But this was the closest he'd ever gotten to being consistently happy for more than a day at a time, and he didn't want to waste a single moment of it.

Of course, things didn't truly change for him. There still remained the fact that he now realized he was identical to Gozaburo's son, which made the fact that Gozaburo had requested someone that looked so specifically like him so incredibly disturbing. He wasn't going to cater to that sadist anymore, he decided. He was done. It was high time that he stood up for himself.

* * *

"You disgust me," Seto said as he entered Gozaburo's office that Thursday night.

"What did you just say to me?" Gozaburo turned on him, looking dangerous and violent. Then again, he always looked that way in Seto's eyes.

"You're a pervert. I know you're the one who requested somebody with my coloring, but I didn't realize before that I looked exactly like your son!" Seto couldn't stand this anymore. No amount of money could justify the amount of abuse he suffered at this monster's hands.

"You will get on your hands and knees like the dog you are this very moment, or so help me, I'll beat you within an inch of your life." Gozaburo's voice was cold and cruel, and the fact that he spoke in a low whisper rather than a loud shout sent a chill down Seto's spine. Even so, he stood his ground.

"I'm not doing this anymore." He uncrossed his arms as he turned to walk away, only to have the door be dead-bolted on him as he reached it. He turned around to glare at Gozaburo, who smugly held the fancy remote control for the myriad of features in his office that responded to it.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Mutt," Gozaburo growled. "You've turned my own son against me. Did you really think you could get away with that?"

"What are you talking about?" Seto was genuinely perplexed, now. What could he possibly be referring to.

"Ever since you beat him in that chess match, he's changed." Gozaburo walked across the room to his liquor cabinet and opened it, then opened the hidden compartment that held the things he used in his sessions with Seto—mostly various forms of torture. "He's already started accumulating shares of KaibaCorp stock. He's trying to challenge me, trying to take my company from me." He turned around with something in his hands that Seto had never seen before: it was a whip, but not like any other Gozaburo had previously used. "What did you say to him to make him turn against me?"

"I didn't say anything to him about you," Seto answered honestly, slipping off his coat, not because he intended to submit, but because he planned on fighting back and didn't want to be inhibited by it. "If you can't raise your own son properly, that's not my fault." It was a dumb move on his part to goad the man who looked just about ready to whip him into next week, but Seto figured that Gozaburo was so far gone at this point it didn't even matter. The older stepped forward a few paces, but Seto remained where he was.

"You'll regret those words!" The KaibaCorp president held the long whip by its handle, lifting it and striking at Seto with a rapid motion, but Seto caught the length of the whip in his hand. Something sharp was digging into his palm, making his hand bleed, but he didn't let go.

"It's over, Gozaburo. I'm leaving and I'm not coming back."

Gozaburo started to laugh at Seto's words, sounding genuinely crazy.

"You have a little brother, don't you?" He said, shocking Seto out of his own anger and making his eyes grow wide.

"How did you…?"

"It doesn't matter how I know," Gozaburo said dismissively. "What matters is that I'm able and willing to kidnap him and turn him into a servant in my household if I so choose—or if you don't cooperate." He grinned in a way that made Seto feel sick, the fire of rebellion dying quickly in the teen's heart. He should have known better than to think that he could rid himself of this demon so easily.

"You wouldn't—" he protested weakly, unable to comprehend the depravity of this man's mind.

"Oh yes I would, and I'm not in a very good mood right now, which means that it wouldn't take very much at all for me to lose my temper and send one of my men to go out and fetch him for me. So you might want to start obeying me. Let go." Seto let go, several heavy droplets of blood falling to the floor. "Now strip, or you'll never see your little brother again."

Seto didn't have any choice but to obey, and Seth groaned inwardly. He'd been proud of Seto for standing up to this horrible man, convinced that he would rescue himself from the worst part of his "profession." He hadn't counted on Gozaburo going to such extremes. He also hadn't realized that their Shadow Game had affected the Kaiba heir to such a degree. He truly felt guilty that Seto was going to suffer on his account. He would step in if he could, but once again, Seto had put the Millennium Rod aside with his coat and he simply stood too far away for Seth to exert much influence over him.

He was too far to exert much influence, true, but there were still times when the teen was close enough that Seth could steal some of his pain and ease his suffering. Seth may not have been with Seto for very long, but even he could see that this was an unusually brutal session for the two of them. This wasn't just sex, it was rape. This wasn't just a kink, this was torture. Seth found himself revolted and angered to the point where he could hardly stand to wait for the moment that he was able to do something about this.

His heart wrenched with pity as Seto lay on the floor, an awful bloody mess. He couldn't move; all Seto wanted to do was fall sleep so that he could wake up from this nightmare.

"Get out, you dog," Gozaburo grumbled as he gave the teen one last kick. Tonight, he didn't offer any payment. "I expect to see you here tomorrow night at the same time so that I can finish punishing you." With that, he turned away and started to light himself a cigar. This wouldn't be the first time that he needed to clean bloodstains off the floor of his office, so he had no concerns about how he was going to remove the mess.

Seto let out a low groan as he made an attempt to move, weakly reaching for his clothes with one trembling arm. The process of dressing was slow, and his dark clothes were quickly absorbing the blood from his skin. As he moved closer to his coat, Seth stole more and more of his pain and bore the burden of it himself. As he did so, Seto was able to move with less pain. As his fingers wrapped around the scepter, Seth rushed into him, putting Seto's soul in a peaceful state of sleep to free him from this nightmare while Seth took care of things.

Seth seized Seto's coat in his left hand and stood, facing Gozaburo with an almost murderous look in his eyes. He aimed the Millennium Rod at Mr. Kaiba, who had just then turned around to make sure that Seto was really on his way out.

 _"Mind crush!"_ he shouted.

Gozaburo screamed in agony as the demons in his heart that had stripped him of his humanity proceeded to torture his own mind with the same pain he'd inflicted upon Seto, making him feel wounds his body lacked. He fell to his knees, hands clutching his head as his cigar fell from his fingers to the floor. Seth went to his desk, pocketed the envelope of cash that he should have given to Seto, turned around, and left without looking back. He rarely used the Mind Crush, wary of reaching a point where he could use it without hesitation or remorse. Gozaburo Kaiba, however, was truly a monster that needed to suffer for his crimes. He needed to be stopped.

Seth stumbled to the elevator and pushed the correct button, only knowing how to operate it because he'd seen Seto do so before. He needed to get to Ryou's house. Ryou was Seto's friend, and his father had begun to try and intervene in Seto's life. Seth knew that Mr. Bakura's intentions were good and his heart pure. He trusted him, even if Seto didn't trust him yet. He exited the office building and stepped out into the rain, still clutching the coat at his side. Seto loved that coat, as silly as it sounded, and Seth wasn't willing to let it be tainted with bloodstains. He limped the long journey to the Bakura home, knowing that Seto needed medical attention immediately and that he wouldn't be able to get there on his own. He made it all the way to the front steps and knocked on the front door. He gave Seto his body back just as Ryou opened the door. The teen let out a cry of surprise as he rushed forward to catch Seto as he fainted.

"Dad!" he called, unsure of what to do or what was going on. He'd seen blood on Seto's face before the taller teen tipped forward. Was he hurt? He must be. He'd get sick if he stayed in those soaked clothes. His father was at his side in a matter of seconds, and Ryou was grateful that Mokuba had fallen asleep on the couch again. He wouldn't have wanted the child to see his brother like this.

"Go get your mother, Ryou," he ordered as he took Seto into his own arms. "Tell her it's an emergency." His son nodded and dashed off to do as he was told. Bakura lifted Seto carefully, closing the front door once he had the brunette inside. They had one guest bedroom, on the ground floor, and Bakura chose to carry him to the adjacent bathroom. There was no way that he would let the poor boy go home in a state like this, especially when his home wasn't even a place that he felt safe. Once he'd gently laid Seto on the floor, he took the coat from his still-clenched hand and hung it over the shower curtain rod. That done, he noticed that the Millennium Rod was on his person as well. He removed it carefully and set it on the bathroom sink, then set about unbuttoning Seto's shirt. He'd just finished doing so when his wife entered bearing a first aid kit. He could see Ryou and Marik behind her, looking worried and tired.

"You two can go to bed. We'll take care of things here," he assured. Ryou nodded and led Marik back upstairs, but he was unable to hide how upset he was. He came to a stop in the hallway, and Marik stayed with him. Ryou's eyes watered as a wave of sorrow swept over him, Marik stepping closer to wrap his arms around Ryou to comfort him. The two of them had gotten quite close in the short time that they'd spent together, and add to that the fact that Marik was still unacquainted with most social norms, and Ryou found himself in possession of the perfect best friend. Ryou loved hugs, and Marik was generous with affectionate physical contact like nobody else Ryou knew.

"Why didn't he tell me that he was in trouble?" Ryou whispered as he hugged Marik tightly, resting his chin on Marik's shoulder as he tried not to cry. "He knows that he can trust me." Ever since the Spirit of the Millennium Ring had established itself as a permanent presence in Ryou's mind, he'd discovered that he could not only understand Marik's hieratic Egyptian, but he could speak it as well. This made communication between them much easier, so Ryou was speaking in hieratic Egyptian now.

"Some secrets are too terrible to say out loud," Marik sighed, rubbing Ryou's back comfortingly. He knew from experience that when somebody hurt you repeatedly, it made you feel ashamed and bitter, and the last thing you wanted to do was talk about it.

"I just wish I could do something to help," Ryou murmured, blinking away the tears he'd almost shed. He was finally starting to calm down, and Marik released him gently,holding both of his hands in his own for a moment.

"There may be something that I can do. Go, sleep, and I'll join you soon." He gave Ryou's hands a squeeze before they parted. Marik had begun to join Ryou in bed at night; the poor "yadonushi" was terrified that the Spirit might possess him in the middle of the night and do something terrible, and if Marik was there, not only did he _feel_ calmer and safer, but there had been an instance when Marik's knowledge of the Millennium Items and the ancient scriptures had allowed him to stop the Evil Spirit from sneaking out through the window to do gods only knew what.

* * *

"How did this happen?" Mrs. Bakura gasped as she examined Seto's back, horrified.

"I don't know, Miya, he won't tell me." Bakura sighed as he held Seto propped against his own shoulder and his wife began to clean the terrible wounds that covered his young body. "They weren't like this at all last week."

"Kenji, we need to get him to talk. There's no way I'm letting him out of this house if there's even the slightest possibility of this happening to him again." Miya spoke with the fierce protectiveness of a mother, even though Seto wasn't her own child. He didn't have a mother of his own to look out for him anymore, so it couldn't possibly do him any harm for her to step in as a surrogate, if only for a brief time.

"Well, I doubt he's going to say much of anything tonight," Kenji Bakura responded, glancing at the brunette's face. "Wait, I think he might be waking up. Seto, can you hear me?"

Seto's bright blue eyes blinked open slowly. "Where am I?"

"You're at Ryou's house," he answered quietly.

"How did I get here?" He seemed even more disoriented than Kenji had anticipated.

"You walked here, but you passed out when Ryou opened the door."

"Who's touching me?" he asked, suddenly aware of the fact that he was being touched by more than one person. He instantly tensed, looking like he would try to free himself and scramble away from the touch if only he was physically capable of doing so.

"Don't worry, it's only my wife. She's a trained nurse, she's just taking care of your wounds. Nobody here is going to hurt you." He spoke calmly and slowly, hoping that Seto would just relax, but he remained tense and nervous.

"I don't like people touching me," he muttered under his breath, closing his eyes again as he allowed Mr. Bakura to support his weight. He may be tense, but he was also tired, and his body was even more inclined to sleep now that it was injured and needed to heal. The process of tending to his injuries was slow, especially because he stubbornly refused to allow them to remove anything more than his shirt, even though it was obvious that he had more injuries that needed tending. Neither of them tried to push him on that; however, Miya had gotten Seto to promise that he'd let her take him to a doctor tomorrow so that he could be properly taken care of.

"You're going to stay for the night. There's no point in sending you home when you're already here. I'll bring Mokuba in here to join you, since the bed's more than big enough for the two of you. Meanwhile, Kenji, can you get him some clothes to sleep in?"

Mr. Bakura, who'd been packing up the first-aid kit, nodded and left, bumping into Marik as he left the bedroom.

"How long have you been waiting out here?" he asked in surprise, but the Egyptian didn't seem flustered at all.

"I can help," he said in Arabic.

"Sleep is the best thing for Seto now," Mr. Bakura said gently, not knowing what Marik was trying to offer, but knowing that it was too late at night for any of them to still be awake.

"He has the Millennium Rod with him, yes?" Marik asked, ignoring the archaeologist's words.

"Yes, he does."

"Put it close by him when he sleeps. He will heal faster," Marik insisted, looking so convicted of the truth of his own words that Kenji believed him.

When Seto was finally asleep in their guest room, Mokuba curled up against him, the Millennium Rod was on the nightstand by his head. Seth felt rather satisfied with how things had gone once he'd gotten Seto to the Bakura household. Finally, Seto was getting some proper help and some proper sleep.


	13. Rest

Seto dreamed again that night, but, thankfully it wasn't a nightmare, although he'd half expected to relive his time with Gozaburo. It had been more violent and painful than anything he'd experienced previously, which made it hard to get out of his mind. His dream was the same as the one he'd had when he first received the Millennium Rod and passed out. Warm arms wrapped around him in a comforting darkness, and he struggled against the stranger just as he had last time.

_Hush, my child. Let me heal you._

"I'm not your child," he protested, although his words sounded more sleepy than sour.

_You are more precious to me than if you were my child._

"Why?" Seto asked, confused, finally relaxing against the arms that were too strong for him to resist. "Who _are_ you?"

_You will know soon enough, my son._

"I'm not your son." He meant to snap at the disembodied, paternal voice, but he just sounded like a drowzy, moody child. He tried to force his eyes open, but the warm energy flowing through him from those strong arms was acting like a sedative, gently forcing him into a state of total relaxation whether he wanted it or not.

_Close enough, little one. Close enough._

* * *

When Seto opened his eyes the next morning, he felt oddly comfortable. His mattress wasn't this nice. He opened his eyes, and jerked awake immediately. It was too bright in here. He was late. He needed to get to school. He tried to sit up, but let out a groan of pain and sank back onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow as he braced himself to try again.

"Good morning, my pharaoh."

The voice startled Seto, and he forced himself up despite the pain to see who had spoken. There sat Marik, cross-legged on the floor just inside the doorway.

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" he asked, feeling like his privacy had been violated.

"Less than an hour," Marik answered after a moment's thought. He was still adjusting to the modern measure of time.

"Where's Mokuba?" he asked suddenly, becoming aware of his little brother's absence.

"School," the Egyptian answered, watching Seto carefully with those unnerving lavender eyes of his. Seto let out a sigh of relief and sat up slowly, testing the state of his body after last night's abuse. He ached all over, but he could still move, and he didn't feel like any of the wounds had reopened, which was another good sign.

"Why did you call me pharaoh?" he asked, unable to deny his suspicious nature as he questioned the stranger. Marik grinned, looking pleased with himself.

"You don't ask why you understood an ancient language?" he returned cheekily, making Seto freeze in the process of stretching his arms. He realized now that, yes, while he'd clearly understood Marik's words as if they were spoken in his native tongue, the language itself wasn't anything he'd ever heard before. Marik smiled with a look of satisfaction. He stood and slipped out of the room, and Seto relaxed a little. He couldn't focus when those unnerving eyes were watching him so carefully.

"Knock knock," Mrs. Bakura said softly as she rapped on the door with her knuckles, opening it slightly as she pushed the door open a bit. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Thank you for letting me stay the night," he said politely. His expression of gratitude sounded inadequate even to his own ears, but he didn't know how to phrase it any better.

"Well, I wasn't about to let you go home in the state you were in," she said gently, her eyes filled with sadness and pity. Seto had grown to resent all pity; pity was something you expressed in response to someone who was weak. He wasn't weak, and he didn't want to be seen as weak. "I called a friend of mine, a pediatrician. He said he could see you today."

Seto stiffened and looked away. He'd forgotten that he'd promised to see a doctor today. She entered the room slowly and sat next to him on the bed, careful not to make any sudden movements. His behavior last night reminded her of the behavior exhibited by the rare abuse cases that turned up at the children's hospital where she worked. She didn't want to startle him.

"We want to help you, Seto. We're doing this for your own good." She couldn't help but look at him and consider what she'd do if he were her own son. She had a nurturing soul by nature, hence her chosen profession, and it pained her to see others suffer.

"I know," he answered quietly, looking down at his hands. She was feeling far too maternal not to run a hand through his shaggy brown hair and comment, "I think it's time for you to get a haircut." She brought his head close and kissed the top of his head before she released him and stood to leave. "I put your clothes from last night in the wash, I hope you don't mind. I brought something for you to wear in the meantime."—she gestured to a pile of folded clothes on the nightstand—"Once you're done getting cleaned up, you can come out to the kitchen and I'll have breakfast ready for you."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, almost softening at her maternal affection. He took her advice and took a quick shower, dressing in the borrowed clothes afterward. Judging by the style and size, they were borrowed from her husband, not her son, which made sense given that Seto was a good five inches taller than Ryou and his limbs were proportionally longer.

He enjoyed breakfast, offering to do the dishes afterward saying it was "the least he could do." He washed them, dried them, put them away, all because he was putting off the doctor's visit for as long as possible. Eventually, though, the time came for him to give in and go with her to the doctor, leaving Marik behind to puzzle over a set of books that were helping him learn to read Japanese.

* * *

That morning, Ryou took Mokuba and Amane to school feeling apprehensive. The events of last night were still eating away at the back of his mind, making it difficult for him to focus on classes.

By lunch time, his friends had grown to be quite worried about Seto's absence.

"He hasn't missed a day of school for as long as I can remember," Yugi said worriedly as they ate. They'd met in a classroom out of habit, perhaps subconsciously hoping that Seto would just show up.

"Hey, Ryou, do you know what's wrong with him?" Joey asked. "I mean, you look after his brother, right? So you would know."

"Uh, yeah, he's… sick," Ryou answered evasively.

"With what?" Anzu asked.

"I'm not sure, but when he showed up last night to pick up Mokuba, he looked pretty bad off."

"How bad?" Yugi asked.

"Uh, pretty bad," Ryou answered, wondering how much he ought to say when he didn't even know the full story. "He kind of… collapsed on the front step."

"Oh no!"

"Ouch."

"My parents didn't think it was a good idea to send him home like that, so he stayed at our house last night."

"I guess it's a good thing he didn't come to school, then, if it's that bad."

"Hey, I know what we should do! We should all go over and visit him after school to cheer him up! If that's alright with you, of course," Yugi said, deferring to Ryou.

"Of course it is. I'm sure he'd appreciate the company." Ryou wasn't sure, but he knew that having friends around would at least cheer Seto up and remind him that he didn't have to keep his troubles to himself.

"Cool! I can drive us over after school, I just have to pick up Serenity first."

"And Mokuba and Amane," Ryou added.

"Will you have enough room for all of us in your car?" Anzu asked as she counted up the number of people who'd have to fit into Joey's sports car in order for this to work out logistically.

"Of course! No problem," he answered, brushing off their concerns with a wave of his hand. "I've fit more people than that in my car before." Anzu and Yugi exchanged a glance, silently agreeing that they didn't want to hear the context of that event.

* * *

"How is he?" Mrs. Bakura asked as Dr. Nakamura left Seto alone in the examination room. His expression wasn't very reassuring. He summoned her with a gesture of his hand, and the two of them strolled down the hall together. "Did you get him to tell you what happened?"

"No need, the markers on his body were enough for me to figure it out." He glanced around, as if wary of who might overhear them. Or maybe he was just uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. "Are you familiar with the euphemism, 'the oldest profession?'" he asked in a low voice.

"Yes—Oh god no, you can't—" She glanced back in the direction of the room where Seto waited. "You don't mean to tell me—?"

"Unfortunately, yes, all the physiological and behavioral signs are there. It's the only thing that makes sense. Either that, or he's the most stubborn and shy domestic abuse victim I've ever seen." Miya winced at that. "I'm sorry, but it's true. It's too bad; he seems like a good kid."

"He is," she replied quietly. "So, what specifically caused his injuries?"

"They looked like whip-marks, but they were made by a whip like nothing I've ever seen. It must have had pieces of barbed wire embedded in the length." She winced again. "And the older wounds showed clear, long-term abuse. I would say he's been doing this for several months, give or take a month or two. It's also worth mentioning that he's slightly underweight." She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried not to think what he endured most nights.

"How can we help him?"

"Well, the first thing you can do is get him out of it, but that's usually the hardest part. What do you know about his family?"

"His mother is deceased, his father is an unemployed alcoholic, and he has a little brother that means the world to him."

"Then it's entirely possible that he simply ran out of options. The economy's not what it used to be, after all. Getting hired is harder. And with himself and a little brother to take care of, he would do anything he could to provide. It's as simple as that. I've seen it before a few times at the charity clinic. I don't usually see those kids get a chance to get out, but _y_ _ou_ can give him that chance." Dr. Nakamura turned to face Miya at that moment. "What he needs more than anything else is _time_. Time to let his body heal, time to feel like a normal teenager again. He's strong. He can move past this and still make something of his life, but he needs to get out of this… profession as soon as possible. Turning back to his injuries, the attack last night was a deviation from prior events. He sustained injuries unlike anything he'd previously received, which suggests that something changed."

"Something changed? Like what?"

"You'd have to ask him yourself," the doctor answered. "I'm no psychologist, but I would say that he probably won't want to talk about any of it for quite a while. Are you sure those injuries happened yesterday evening?"

"Quite certain, they were fresh when he got to our house last night. Why do you ask?"

"The degree to which they've healed is impressive considering they occurred less than twelve hours ago, that's all. It could just be that his body has adapted to heal faster as it's become accustomed to constant abuse. It's not very scientific, but I wouldn't be surprised. Stranger things have happened."

When Mrs. Bakura went in to talk to Seto he wouldn't look at her. She sat next to him as she had that morning and gently put an arm around his shoulder. They sat in silence for a couple minutes, neither knowing what to say.

"Joey's the the only other person who knows," he said at last. "I trust you and your husband to keep this to yourselves."

"We should tell the authorities—"

"No," he interrupted, which was out of character for him. "They threatened to hurt Mokuba if I didn't cooperate, and if they found out that I talked to the police…" He trailed off, and Miya suddenly understood why he'd continued doing this for so long.

"I won't tell anybody but my husband," she promised. "And I'll reiterate to him your request for discretion. He could probably get you some kind of internship at the university where he's working on his doctoral thesis. What are you good at?"

"Computers," he answered automatically, and she smiled.

"Good, then you can help those archaeologists with data entry and cataloging. It's not surprising that they tend to be bad with technology when they spend so much time playing with old rocks."

Seto actually managed to smile at that joke.

* * *

"Seto!" Mokuba cried as he ran forward and tackled his brother. "You're okay!" His brother let out a grunt as Mokuba landed on his back, his arms latching around Seto's neck as he embraced his brother warmly. "When Ryou said that you were sick, I was worried about you."

"Don't worry about me, kiddo. How was school?" He reached a hand up to ruffle his brother's hair without looking up from what he was doing.

"It was good. What are you doing?"

"I'm teaching Marik how to play chess," Seto answered, moving his bishop across the board as Marik frowned and stared at it. "Bishop to C4."

"Hey Seto!" Joey's enthusiastic voice barely penetrated Seto's focus on the game.

"We were worried about you when you didn't show up at school," Yugi said, coming up to the couch to sit beside Seto with Anzu following like a puppy.

"I'm fine, I was just low on sleep."

"I thought you were sick?" Anzu asked, a little suspicious.

"Exhaustion sickness," Seto lied easily, wincing inwardly. When had lying become so easy for him? The response seemed to satisfy Anzu, though.

"Can I get anybody something to drink?" Ryou offered, stepping into the kitchen as he kept an eye on their younger siblings. Serenity seemed to be getting along well enough with Amane, even though she didn't know sign language.

"Water's good, thanks," Yugi answered, and the others nodded in agreement. Seto suppressed a groan of pain as Mokuba shifted on his back.

"Knight to H6," Marik said hesitantly as he moved the piece, then sat back, staring at the board with a furrowed brow.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met before," Anzu said, stepping up to Marik and introducing herself. "My name is Anzu, this is Yugi, the impulsive knucklehead hanging on the back of the couch is Joey, and that's his little sister Serenity." Marik blinked up at her, smiling amiably but looking vaguely confused.

"Queen to F3," Seto said, moving the piece as he started to smile to himself.

"My name is Marik," he answered, holding out a hand to shake Anzu's offered one. "You must forgive me, I am still learning the language." He turned his attention back to the chess game so that he didn't keep Seto waiting. "Pawn to C5."

"Where are you from?" Yugi asked curiously, at which point Marik turned his head and noticed the Millennium Puzzle for the first time. Ryou hadn't mentioned it before.

"Queen to F7. Checkmate." Seto moved his piece and held out a hand to Marik. "Good game for your first try." Marik shook Seto's hand, looking confused.

"How did you…?" Joey didn't understand how Seto could win a game so quickly.

"It's called the four-move mate. It's pretty easy to use against mediocre or beginner players, because they don't know any better." Joey let out a low whistle, impressed.

"That's pretty harsh," he said.

"I am from Egypt."

"Not really," Seto said casually in response to Joey as he reset the board, Mokuba finally releasing him and sliding off his back. Mokuba wasn't much entertained by chess, so he went to join the other kids his age, much to Seto's relief. He loved his brother, of course, but it hurt to have Mokuba hanging on him like that. "There are ways to reach a checkmate in just two moves."

"Egypt? Wow! How come you're in Japan, then?"

"Joey!" Anzu glared at the blond for his tactless question as Ryou came back to the living area with the water glasses. "You can't just ask somebody why they're here!" She and Joey started to bicker about polite social conventions, then Marik turned to Yugi and said something in old Egyptian.

"I beg your pardon?" the diminutive teenager replied, looking confused. He didn't understand the ancient language, unlike Ryou and Seto, who'd inherited their knowledge of it from the spirits in their Millennium Items.

"Your pendant." He pointed at it. "The Millennium Puzzle, yes?"

"Yes, it is. How did you know that?" Yugi answered, his hand going to his Puzzle instinctively. Marik's face took on a thoughtful expression, as if he were struggling to put the words together to express himself.

"It's complicated," Ryou answered on his behalf. Marik glanced at him gratefully and nodded. "Hey, now that we're all here, I can show you my diorama!"

"Diorama?" Joey repeated, looking confused.

"Yeah, for the Monster World game. You know it, Yugi." Ryo turned to his friend at that moment, who nodded in confirmation. "I've finished making my own custom game-board for it, and since we're all here, we should play it! It's something we can all do together." The general consensus was an affirmation, but Mokuba spoke up then.

"Seto has to work soon, don't you Big Brother?" Normally, Mokuba would be right, but Seto knew that wouldn't ever be happening again, not like it had been. He looked over his shoulder at the raven-haired child and smiled softly.

"Not today, kiddo. I'm all yours today." Mokuba beamed upon hearing those words, and left his friends for a moment to give his brother a brief hug.

"You kids be good while we're downstairs," Ryou said as he signed to his sister, who nodded in acknowledgment. Ryou led them down to the basement, which contained the extensive game-room he and his father had put together whenever Mr. Bakura wasn't away on business.

"What kind of game is Monster World?" Anzu asked curiously.

"It's a role-playing game."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chess game this time is legit. There are actually several ways to reach a checkmate in just a few moves if your opponent is unwary enough.


	14. Monsters

"Ryou!"

"Is he okay?"

"Hey man, wake up!"

Once the five friends had awoken from their strange Shadow Game, their first concern was to make sure that Ryou was indeed alright. He'd sacrificed his very soul in order to save them, and for a few minutes there, he'd been dead, actually dead. If the White Mage hadn't sacrificed himself to save, Seto didn't know what they would have done. How on earth would they explain that to Ryou's parents?

"Look!" Anzu pointed as the cord holding the Millennium Ring around Ryou's neck severed of its own accord, the artifact falling to the ground with the sound of clinking metal. Marik had his arm around Ryou's shoulders as the teen stirred and opened his eyes, sitting up with a look of confusion only to have Marik pull him upright so that he could hug him tightly. With cries of joy, the others piled on in a group hug, except for Seto, who merely pat Ryou on the head awkwardly. Ryou didn't seem to mind, though, since he grinned at Seto as warmly as he did the others.

"How's your hand?" Seto asked, and in doing so, reminded the others that Ryou's left hand had been impaled on one of the turrets of Castle Zorc. Ryou was quickly released and ushered upstairs by a fretful Anzu and an affectionate Marik. Seto pulled out the Millennium Rod and looked down at it. He had so many questions for the spirit who had identified himself as Seth and played the game beside Yami against the Spirit of the Millennium Ring.

"Man, how come I don't get any magical doo-dads?" Joey pouted with crossed arms.

"Trust me, Joey, you don't want one," Seto answered sourly, putting it away and noticing that Yugi was holding the Millennium Puzzle and staring at it in a similar manner.

"Didn't it seem like your spirit knew mine?" he asked, looking up at Seto with his large, innocent eyes. "I wonder if they were friends in ancient Egypt long ago."

"But didn't they both identify themselves as pharaohs?" Seto pointed out skeptically. "It seems more likely to me that they were rivals of some sort."

"Well, they could still have been friends," Yugi pointed out. "I'll have to ask Yami about it."

"It also seemed like Ryou's spirit knew ours from long ago, for that matter, and _he_ was incredibly dangerous. How do we know that Yami and Seth aren't just as dangerous as him?" Yugi thought carefully for a moment before answering.

"Just because they are dangerous, that doesn't mean that they are evil," he said slowly, looking to Joey for confirmation, who nodded. "After all, I would say that _you're_ dangerous, Seto, but you're also good." Seto scowled at that.

"Don't you think it a little strange that Yami can't remember his own name? Wouldn't he be able to remember his name if he could remember anything else?" Yugi's forehead wrinkled with thought as he considered Seto's words. Unlike the violet-eyed teen, Seto was not optimistic about this arrangement. He didn't like the idea of a spirit being able to take control of him, talk to him, and exercise magical powers. While Yugi felt like he'd been given a purpose in helping the lost, troubled spirit find peace, Seto felt like he'd been shackled with yet another burden, something else for him to stress and worry about, something more to complicate his life.

"Well, even if he can't remember, maybe Seth does, and he can help." Yugi's optimism was starting to grate on Seto's strained nerves. Their were too many things for him to deal with right now, and this was the last thing he needed.

"What makes you certain that they're good?" Seto pressed, unable to hide his irritation. "It's naive to think that the world is so easily divided into good and evil. It's much more complicated than that, and for your own sake, I hope you soon start to realize that." With that, he turned and left, going upstairs to check on Ryou and Mokuba as Yugi watched him sadly.

"I've got a feeling," he said to Joey contemplatively. "That he's already seen far too much evil in the world if he thinks like that at this age."

"You have no idea," the blond responded with a sigh.

"What do you mean?"

Joey started, realizing that he'd said allowed what he'd meant to keep to himself. "What? Me? I didn't say anything. Don't worry about it," he said hurriedly, trying to cover his blunder. "Come on, let's go join the others." Yugi picked up the Millennium Ring before following Joey upstairs.

* * *

"What happened to your hand?" Mokuba asked in horror when he saw the bloody tissues pressed to Ryou's hand. He laughed nervously, not sure how to answer.

"Just an accident," Marik said smoothly, patting Mokuba on the head in an attempt to calm the child. Anzu was getting the first aid kit—she'd insisted on being the one to bandage Ryou's hand, since, as a certified life-guard, she actually had first-aid training. Amane watched her brother with wide eyes, and Ryou would have signed something reassuring to her if he could have.

"Mokuba, can you please tell my sister that we just had an accident downstairs and that my hand will be fine?" Ryou requested, not wanting his sister to be distressed. Mokuba nodded and complied, and Amane looked slightly less upset once Mokuba told her what was going, but only slightly.

"Why don't the three of you get some popsicles from the freezer?" Ryou suggested, addressing Serenity as well this time. Joey's little sister was quite a contrast from her brother, for she was almost as silent as Amane, although that might have just been because she was upset by the sight of blood. Mokuba grinned immediately and thanked Ryou before passing on the message to Amane, who led her companions over to the freezer. Ryou let out a sigh, wondering how long a sugar bribe would continue to work on them. Marik put his arm around Ryou's shoulders again and gave them a squeeze.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, wondering if Ryou was still protected by the numb of shock, or if the weight of what had just happened downstairs had started to sink in yet.

"I-I don't even know," Ryou answered shakily, allowing himself to lean against Marik's side for a moment. "I'm mostly just shaken up by the whole thing. I mean, I completely lost control. Not only that, but he was able to _pretend_ to be me somewhat convincingly for a while. He tried to kill you all, and I couldn't do anything to stop it." Ryou was getting upset now, and Marik wished that he hadn't said anything. He put both arms around Ryou and shushed his friend as he started tearing up.

"I'll help you make sure that it never happens again," Marik whispered in Egyptian, not wanting to upset the younger children. "That's why I'm here: to help you through this."

"What do you mean?" Ryou asked as he blinked the tears from her eyes, confused.

"That's why Ishizu let me come to Japan. She knew that if you didn't have someone to help you handle the Spirit's possession, it would break you." Marik's words sent a shiver down Ryou's spine. "He is an evil force like nothing the world has seen for hundreds of years. Anybody would break if they had to endure this alone." They rested against each other for a few long moments in comfortable silence before Ryou straightened up and gave Marik a weak smile.

"Thank you," he murmured. The door leading to the basement stairs opened then, and Seto emerged, looking irked.

"How's your hand?" he asked Ryou, trying to act normal, as if they hadn't all just been inundated with Shadow Magic and engaged in a fight for their lives.

"It's almost stopped bleeding," he answered, trying to act normal. "Anzu said she was going to get the first-aid kit, but she'd been gone for a while now."

"Sorry!" Anzu said as she finally returned, blushing with embarrassment. "It took me a while to find it." She proceeded to tend to Ryou's hand, cleaning the wound and bandaging it as best she could.

"Where's Mokuba?" Seto asked, wanting to make sure that none of the magic downstairs had affected his little brother up here.

"He and Serenity and Amane are eating popsicles on the back porch," Ryou answered, and Seto nodded, not quite focused on Ryou himself at the moment. He felt tired, incredibly tired. Was that a side-effect of the Shadow Magic? There was no sure way to know. Yugi would probably tell him to ask Seth, but that was the last thing Seto wanted to do. He didn't trust the spirit. Trust was something that had to be earned, and Seth was no exception from that rule.

 _I can prove to you that I have already shown myself trustworthy_ , Seth's voice echoed in Seto's head, making the brunette feel even more frustrated. He couldn't even think without that invasive presence spying on him.

 _I'm sorry that you feel that way about me._ He sounded disgustingly sincere. _Perhaps we should have a face to face conversation to sort things out between us?_

"Seto, stop glaring at the wall." Ryou's voice was surprisingly light-hearted. "I doubt it ever did you any harm." His mild joke was enough to surprise Seto into a softer expression, almost a smile.

"Sorry," he sighed, but Ryou waved his good hand dismissively.

"No need to apologize. We all just went through quite an ordeal, so it makes sense that you'd be off-put by it."

Off-put? That was an incredible understatement. Seto felt violated; certainly Ryou of all people would feel the same way after his body had been hijacked by an evil spirit for the purpose of murdering his friends through some sick game where human lives were gambled as casually as cash. If Ryou started to talk about how the spirit could just be misunderstood or some crap like that, he thought he would scream.

"I'm going to go check on Mokuba," he said, walking out of the kitchen just as Joey and Yugi came upstairs. Yugi watched Seto's receding form sadly for a moment before turning his attention to Ryou's hand. Before he got a chance to ask about it, though, Anzu spoke up.

"Alright, there you go! That should be alright for now. If it starts to bleed again, I would suggest you see a real doctor about it, but you should be alright." She smiled at him before packing up the first aid kit. "You should probably tell you parents to refill this, by the way. It's running low on some things."

"Well, it looks like you're going to be alright," Yugi said, looking relieved. He put the Millennium Ring on the counter beside Ryou before sitting on the stool beside him. "That's good to hear."

"Yes, but… I don't know if Seto will be," Ryou said, looking worried. "I mean, I know he's got other things in his life that he has to deal with right now, and it can't be easy to have to handle this on top of all that." Joey caught his eye then, his coffee eyes intense and serious like Ryou had never seen them before. Their eyes met only for a moment, and that moment was long enough for Joey to realize that Ryou didn't know what he knew. He looked away, again, switching back to his usual careless, nonchalant manner.

"Other things?" Yugi repeated. "Like what? If he's struggling with something, he should know that he can come to us for help."

"Yeah, that's what friends are for after all," Anzu concurred, and Ryou began to regret his words.

"Look, I don't know what he's going through, but I know my parents are helping him with it, and I know that he doesn't like talking about his problems, so _please_ don't say anything to him about it," Ryou pleaded. "I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. I had no right to."

"Okay, okay, we won't say anything," Yugi assured. "So long as he _is_ getting help." Anzu still looked like she wanted to do something to help Seto, but she agreed with Yugi.

"Ryou's probably right, anyways," Joey commented casually. "His parents are probably better qualified to give life advice than we are, seeing as they have more experience with real life."

"Well, that's true," Anzu acknowledged. Joey's phone rang then, and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Oh look, my parents have finally noticed that I'm not actually home," he said bitterly, pushing away from where he'd been leaning against the counter and answering the call as he walked towards the front door to take his phone call outside. Yugi sighed as he watched the blond leave.

"He doesn't have a great relationship with his parents," he explained. "They both work a lot, so they're not around much." Ryou just nodded and let out a sigh, leaning his head against Marik's shoulder as a wave of exhaustion swept over him.

"I'll go put this away," Anzu announced, picking up the first-aid kit and leaving with it.

"Do you think she'll still get lost this time?" Marik asked mischievously in Egyptian, making Ryou chuckle. Yugi looked at them both in confusion.

"How do you know that language so well?" he asked curiously.

"Hieratic Egyptian is Marik's first language," Ryou explained. "Because I am now the host to that… thing"—he shuddered as he pointed towards the Millennium Ring—"I've learned it too. Marik told me that Seto can speak and understand it as well, for the same reason. But, I guess, since your spirit seems to have lost his memories, he would have lost his language as well, simply speaking whatever language his host—you—knows."

"That makes sense," Yugi said after a moment. "But why is—"

"Alright, I have to get going," Joey said as he reentered the house. "My parents want me to get Serenity home now. Thanks for having us over, Ryou!"

"You're welcome! Although, I am sorry about, you know…" Ryou blushed as he mentioned the Shadow Game, but Joey just shrugged it off.

"Nah, forget about it! That wasn't your fault!" He disappeared to the back porch to fetch his sister, returning with her shortly. "Does anybody else need a ride home?"

"Oh, I do!" Anzu said as she returned.

"I do too, if it's no trouble," Yugi added.

"Not a problem!" Joey said cheerfully. He didn't mind taking his friends home, and if his parents got mad at him for taking so long to get home, then they would just have to deal with it.

The friends said their farewells and departed, leaving Marik, Ryou, Mokuba, Seto, and Amane home alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I didn't even narrate the infamous Monster World game played against Yami Bakura, but trying to write that story in a condensed manner with the altered timeline was driving me psycho, so I skipped over it. I will include flashbacks to it so that you can still get direct peeks at what happened, and I might post it in my collection of deleted scenes. It went fairly canonically, just with Marik instead of Miho, Seto instead of Tristan, etc.
> 
> The Monster World arc, for those of you who don't know it, is in Volume 7 of the manga and episodes 25-27 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Season Zero (a.k.a. the "first series anime" of Yu-Gi-Oh! by Toei Animation).


	15. Cry

_"I am a thief and a stealer of souls, and I have done terrible things in my quest to possess the Millennium Items. Now, I have the chance to acquire two more." He looked at the two sitting across the table from him. "That is, of course, assuming that you would like to continue the game and not forfeit, for if you were to forfeit the match, your friends' souls would become a permanent part of my collection. If you lose, however, your souls will become a part of my game as well, leaving your bodies comatose and your Millennium Items unguarded."_

Seto couldn't seem to shake the words of the Evil Spirit out of his mind. Zorc. Why did that name sound familiar? It shouldn't, since he'd never heard it before in his entire life. He could feel Seth stirring in the back of his mind—which was a disturbing sensation in and of itself—as the spirit wished to explain things to him.

_I can tell you why—_

_No!_ Seto shouted at him mentally. _That's enough out of you. You're just an auditory hallucination induced by stress. I shouldn't even be acknowledging you._

 _Denial doesn't change reality,_ Seth retorted gravely. _It doesn't matter how many times you tell those good people that you're fine, it doesn't change the fact that you're a mess._

 _Shut up!_ It was all Seto could do to refrain from speaking the words aloud, he thought them with such vehemence.

"Seto, are you alright?" Mokuba asked, making Seto look to his side where Mokuba also sat on the step. "You're really quiet, and you look kind of angry." Seto forced his face to relax, even though it was the least genuine expression he could have worn at the moment.

"Yes, I'm alright Mokuba. Don't worry about me," he answered smiling at his brother. Amane was on Mokuba's other side, and Seto only just now realized that they were holding hands as they neared the ends of their popsicles. The sight made Seto's anger ebb a bit, and it made his smile a bit more sincere, even as it saddened him. It reminded him that Mokuba was growing up, that he was nearing puberty, and that Seto was basically the only dependable father-figure Mokuba had.

It made Seto feel old to think about raising his brother as if he were his son. Even so, Seto's feelings for Mokuba were already more paternal than fraternal. He was growing up much too fast, both of them were. And Seto was already losing Mokuba to a girl. Seto didn't have the luxury of romance, and quite frankly, romance was the last thing on his mind these days. He'd lost all taste for such a thing not long after he'd been forced into his current line of "work." He was disillusioned with the entire idea of relationships and marriage and love. It was only those incredibly rare moments when he saw a couple that was just right for each other—like Ryou's parents—that made him doubt for just a moment his perspective. But when the moment passed, so did the doubt, and his cynicism was as strong as ever.

"You two should go inside and wash up," Seto said, noting that the children were finished with their frozen treats, but their hands and faces were all sticky with the melted syrup. They obeyed, and Seto stayed outside for a few more minutes, just watching the late afternoon sky turn orange and gold with the impending sunset.

_Seth looked down at the game-board, his expression gentling as he made eye contact with Seto. "Hello, Seto."_

_"You!" Seto said accusatorily. The voice was similar to his, but not the same. It was the voice from his dream, the one who had called him "child" and "son."_

_"Yes, Seto, it's me. I suppose I owe you an explanation, but we have more pressing matters at hand." He looked up at their opponent, his eyes appraising the threat he truly posed to them._

_"I still don't get it. Who are these people?" Anzu asked, looking perplexed._

_"I think he's from the Millennium Puzzle," Yugi answered thoughtfully as he gazed up at his mirror self. "Ever since I solved it, every time I duel or game I feel like there's a voice guiding me."_

_"So can we trust these guys?" Joey asked dubiously._

_Seto stared up at his other self uncertainly, and he simply stared back, lifting one eyebrow at him._

_"Well, Seto, do you trust me?"_

_"I don't even know your name."_

_"Seth." He tilted his head in a gesture that was both proud and archaic. "My name is Seth."_

Unbidden, memories from the Monster World game came to his mind, and Seto frowned to himself.

 _THAT wasn't a hallucination induced by stress, was it Seto?_ Seth sounded so smug it made Seto angry all over again.

 _Leave me alone!_ He yelled at the spirit. _Can't I just have one moment of peace and quiet? Is that really too much to ask for?!_ Seto rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head in his hands, closing his eyes as he willed the voice away. Instead of going away, though, Seth pulled Seto into a vision where they could talk face to face and have a proper discussion. It felt like they were standing in that same shadowy void where they'd met twice before, except this time, they could actually see each other.

"How did you—?!" Seto exclaimed, startled, turning a pair of mistrustful blue eyes on the ancient pharaoh. Only then did Seth realize that Seto was agitated enough by recent events that he might just lash out in violence against Seth if he was pushed even just a little bit.

"Our souls are joined inseparably, Seto," Seth answered smoothly, keeping his distance from the teen as he fought the urge to embrace his poor, damaged soul. "It is easy for us to meet in my soul room."

"I don't _want_ to be joined to you!" Seto shouted. "I've had enough of this, all of it! I'm _done_ with the Shadow Magic and the ancient spirits and the Millennium Items! I just want my life to go back to the way it was before!" His face was growing livid as he yelled at Seth, who stood like stone against the verbal assault.

"No you don't," he retorted quietly. "You hated your life the way it was before, and you hate your life now. It wouldn't make any difference to you if it were to change back, except now, with me here, we have a chance to make things better."

Seto was only enraged by Seth's cool, quiet words. "You don't know _anything_ about me!" He hadn't yet grasped and accepted the nature of their mind-link. He didn't understand that Seth knew _everything_ about him. "You don't know anything about my life or all the _shit_ that I've had to put up with!" He was screaming now, hands balled into fists at his sides as he stepped closer to Seth, so angry and upset that tears sprang to his eyes. "You don't have any idea what I've had to do just to survive!"

Seth reached out to Seto, his face tense as he restrained his own temper. Seto was just a scared child in pain, he reminded himself. He tried to embrace Seto, but the teen batted his arms away, screaming, "Don't _touch_ me! I'm sick of people touching me! I'm not a toy or a thing, I'm a person! I matter too…" As Seto choked himself with a sob, Seth finally managed to put his arms around him and pull him close.

"I just want to hold you, Seto. It's been so long since anybody's just held you," he whispered sadly. "Trust me, I understand how you feel."

"No, you don't," Seto protested, still blinded by a strong rage that had been growing in him for so long without an outlet or release. It was exploding from him now, the pressure too great for him to control it any longer. He battered his fists against Seth's chest, but the former pharaoh stoically withstood the attack. "Nobody understands what I've been through! Nobody understands what I do!" As sobs overtook him, his blows to Seth's chest grew weak and feeble until all he could do was cry as Seth caressed Seto's head tenderly and pulled him in close, tears falling down his own cheeks.

"It's okay to cry, Seto," he murmured. "It's alright to mourn when you've lost so much."

"I'm not crying!" Seto shouted stubbornly, even as his tears wet Seth's priestly robes. "I don't cry. I haven't cried since…"

"Since your mother died, I know, Seto. I know."

"You _don't_! You don't know…"

"Yes, I do, Seto. My father abandoned my mother and I when I was just a child." Seto's tears grew quieter, intrigued despite his grief. "My mother had to raise me alone. She did what she had to do to provide for me, just like you do what's necessary to provide for Mokuba." Seth swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. "She did _exactly_ what you do in order to provide for me so that I could rise up out of those circumstances and find something better. She died before she could see what I'd made of myself. So yes, I understand what it's like. I watched her pain and shame for years, feeling guilty because I knew that she was doing it for my sake. She died before I could even repay her for it." Seth hugged the teen tightly, as if he could erase his past and his pain with just a touch. Seto felt his arms burning into him, but he soon forced himself to relax and accept the hug, burying his face into Seth's shoulder, ashamed of his own tears. "I promise you, Seto, that you won't have to sell your body for one more night. Never again. I won't let anyone hurt you like that ever again." It was a comfort to simply hold each other and cry for a little while longer."Why did you call me 'son' before?" Seto at last asked in a whisper. "I'm not your son."

"Because you are a piece of my own soul, and that is what makes you more precious to me than my own child. Yet, you are descended from me, so you are still my child, in a sense. Would you be offended if I continued to call you 'son'?"

A pause, then a soft, muffled, "No, I wouldn't be offended."

Seth smiled.

* * *

As dusk drew on, Ryou decided to check on Seto. When he went to the back porch carrying two mugs of chamomile tea, he found Seto just sitting there, head in his hands. It was only when he was beside him that Ryou noticed that Seto had been crying. He set down one mug so that he could tap Seto on the shoulder, making the brunette jerk upright as he was pulled out of his reverie. He quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, but Ryou smiled understandingly.

"It's okay to cry, Seto. You've been through a lot." He held out the mug of tea to his friend, who accepted it with unsteady hands. "I'm guessing you haven't cried in a long time."

Seto nodded, looking down into his tea.

"Marik lost his mother, too," Ryou said, taking a sip of his own tea before he continued. "She died when he was born, so he never knew her. He and his siblings were raised in a tomb underground. Their father was abusive and they were forbidden from leaving their home or ever going above ground. My father's expedition found them and freed them from their father. Marik was terribly sick at the time, but because they were found, he was able to get the treatment he needed, and that's why he's so happy all the time. The fact that he's alive is a miracle. Just to stay alive, that's enough for him."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To remind you of the big picture, that you're not alone." Ryou's voice was as gentle and unreasonably wise as ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: The first sentence of this chapter is a quote from Yami Bakura from Season One, Episode 13 of the dubbed anime.


	16. Freedom

They finished their tea in relative silence, and before they went back inside, Seto thanked Ryou, for the tea and the story. Ryou's parents were home by that point; Mrs. Bakura had gone to the grocery store earlier and was just finishing putting away the groceries with the help of her husband and Mokuba. She did have work tonight, unlike last night, so she left soon, after talking with Kenji about what she'd learned that day at the doctor's office.

"Oh, hun, why can't we adopt them? We could give them a good home," she sighed wistfully, putting her arms around her husband's neck as she lay her head on his shoulder for a few moments. He chuckled warmly and embraced her, kissing her forehead.

"You do realize that you say that about every stray dog and alley cat you see, right?" he teased.

"But this time I really mean it. They need help. They need parents, family, stability. Seto needs time to heal and sleep and realize that life doesn't have to feel like a constant cycle of torture and degradation. Oh, bother." She was starting to tear up just thinking about what his life must be like. Kenji handed her his handkerchief and hugged her reassuringly.

"We'll make things better for them, dear," he promised as she dabbed at her eyes. Then he added gently, "There's no need to cry."

"I know, I know," she muttered, pulling herself together and giving him an apologetic smile. "I just cry too easily." He kissed her in answer to that, reminding her that he loved her deep empathy as much as he loved any other part of her.

* * *

After Mrs. Bakura had left for work, saying goodbye to the children on her way out the door, Seto was pulled aside by Ryou's father for a private conversation. Ryou turned on the evening news once he'd coaxed the younger children into doing their homework, working on his own reading for literature class while paying cursory attention to current events as told by the newscasters. Marik, on the other hand, was riveted to the television, fascinated and repulsed by the stories he heard.

Meanwhile, Seto's conversation with Mr. Bakura was as uncomfortable as it was beneficial. Mr. Bakura offered to let Mokuba stay with his family for as long as he needed in order to get his life together, but Seto had turned him down flat. He wouldn't let himself be separated from his brother, not even temporarily.

"I'll figure it out," Seto assured. "I'll figure it out within the week. I'll find a way."

"Promise me that if you do get into more trouble, you won't hesitate to come to me for help?" Seto hesitated before answering.

"I won't hesitate if I _need_ your help, sir," Seto answered evasively. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not drag your family into danger if I can help it. I do have one friend who knows what's going on, and I may go to him for help instead, depending on the circumstances."

"Will you at least _tell_ me if you've bitten off more than you can chew?"

"Yes, sir, I will."

"And will you tell me once you have disentangled yourself from your current situation?"

"Right away, sir."

"Good, because my wife was right that we do have an opening for an intern to aid in digitizing our research findings and organizing the information, and we can't start you working until your hours are a little more free."

"Thank you, sir." Seto was overwhelmed with a wave of gratitude. This was the most that anybody had ever done for him. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around the reason for why he would help him, aside from charitable impulse. He'd never seen such a thing so strong in someone, save Joey.

Joey. He'd be able to tell him that it was coming to an end. The blond bully-turned-friend would be relieved. He'd always been uncomfortable with Seto's profession and the physical pain it caused him. Seto had always been too stubborn to let Joey do anything to help him, and Joey had been too tentative to push him any further about it.

When they finally re-emerged, Seto was racking his brain as he tried to think of a way for him to possibly get the pimp off his back without angering him and making him go after Mokuba. The TV caught his eye, though, and the news story playing at the moment made him break into a laugh unlike anything else Mokuba or Ryou had ever heard from him. In truth, neither of them had ever heard much laughter from Seto, so to see him laughing hard at nothing in particular was disturbing. Seto was still laughing as he went into the guest room to gather their things together. The other residents of the room looked confused, but were too perplexed to have an answer as to what had caused such a reaction. Meanwhile, the newscaster continued with her story.

"The former corporation president leaves behind a grieving widow and two children. In light of his father's untimely death, Noah Kaiba has inherited his father's shares of the company and ascended the role of president and CEO of the Kaiba Corporation…"

* * *

"You shouldn't find joy in a man's death," Seth said as he appeared in spirit-form in the guest room.

"I'm not going to apologize for being happy that he's dead," Seto said as he got his things together, answering out loud because he didn't stop to think that he might be overheard.

"You sound insane when you laugh like that," Seth pointed out as he crossed his arms. "It draws attention to yourself, and you know that's the last thing you want."

"Fine, I'll stop laughing, but I'm still happy he's dead, because now that he's dead, they no longer need _me_ , _specifically_ , for their nasty little business. I _actually_ have a shot at getting out without putting Mokuba in danger. I don't think you understand what that means to me."

"I understand, Seto, trust me, I do. I hate that man as much as you do, that's why I—" The former pharaoh suddenly fell silent, making Seto look up at him.

"That's why you what? What did you do?" Seto was starting to get suspicious.

"I may have… punished him after what he did to you last night," Seth admitted.

"You… what? How did you…? No, you didn't—" Seto was shocked as he stammered aloud his thought process. "You took control of me just like the Evil Spirit controlled Ryou!"

"Please lower your voice, Seto," Seth cautioned, approaching his hikari with a look of concern. "They already think you've lost it, after a laugh like that. If they hear you arguing with yourself, they won't have any choice but to come in and ask you what's wrong, and I know that's the last thing you want."

"You took control of me without my—How do I not have any memories of this?" Seto was outraged, but he managed to keep his voice low as Seth requested.

"Granted, you were hardly conscious at the time, and that would have eventually led to further injury if I hadn't done something. I was looking out for your _well being_ , Seto." Seth was desperate to make Seto believe him. The more Seto fought him, the more he tried to push Seth out of his mind and his life, the harder this would be on both of them and the longer it would be before they could work cooperatively. Until they managed to work together, it left them vulnerable to an attack by the Spirit of the Ring or any other vile, magical entity.

"By possessing me? And just what do you mean when you say that you 'punished' him?"

"I may have done something to his mind that served him the justice he would otherwise never receive. It's rather complicated, I doubt you wish to hear the details of it at the moment."

"You possessed me before I even knew you were there?!"

" _Please_ , keep your voice down," Seth insisted, the two of them standing nearly toe to toe now. "Seto, you wouldn't have made it very far on your own. Gozaburo had lost his mind before I did anything to him; for all we know, you might not have made it out of there alive if I hadn't stepped in."

There was a moment of silence between them in which they stared each other down, both to stubborn to step away at first. Finally, Seto stepped back, letting his shoulders relax.

"I only did what I had to do to get you to a safe place: I walked as far as this house then gave you control again. That's why you didn't remember getting here last night." Seth spoke more calmly now, resting his ghostly hands on Seto's shoulders as he smiled down at him. Seto may be six foot two, but he was still only sixteen, while Seth was fully grown, and as such was taller. "I only act to protect you, Seto. I know that you have no trust in kindness or charity, but consider this: I need you alive for me to exist in this world. You trust in the power of self-interest, I know. So remember that it's in my interest for you to be healthy and safe. That is why you can trust me to be looking out for your best interest."

He leaned in and kissed Seto's forehead, and Seto would have flinched away from the touch if only he could have felt it.

"Was that the _only_ time you took control of me?"

Seth sighed and released him. "No, it wasn't, but please, Seto," he rushed to speak as Seto started to bristle. "Trust me when I say it was only to protect you."

"When was it?" Seto demanded, crossing his arms.

"Your chess game with Noah," he admitted. "There is a true evil in his heart that you must be wary of. I could tell that things wouldn't have ended well if I'd let you do it alone, so I played a Shadow Game of chess with him and taught him a lesson."

"Did you 'punish' him too?"

"No, I did not. His loss at chess was a lesson in and of itself."

"And what I _do_ remember of the game?"

"Every move on the chess board that you remember is accurate. I planted those while you slept so that you didn't worry about the memory gap."

"Will you show me what really happened now?"

"I don't think you're ready yet. I'm afraid you'd be disturbed by it."

"I'm not a child, and I've seen a fair amount of hellish things, so I doubt what I'm going to see will disturb me."

"The whole thing disturbed Noah enough that he accused me of cheating, even with no evidence to support the claim."

"That was him being a sore loser," Seto said dismissively. "What _really_ happened?"

Seth sighed in defeat and closed his eyes, the images flooding Seto's mind and making him reel. He sat down on the bed, hard, and Seth sighed.

"I told you it was disturbing."

"Who _are_ those people and _why_ do they all look like me?"

"I did tell you that you were my reincarnation, didn't I? You're not the first reincarnation of me, and in another universe, your life is far different from this one. And to add to that, I'm the reincarnation on somebody else." Seto's expression was stunned and perplexed, and he clearly wasn't comprehending what was happening. "I was right, you're not ready for this. I'll explain it to you another time when you're more stable."

Seto was still stunned as he ran through the flood of memories from the Shadow Game. One in particular stood out to him. "Seto... Kaiba? In what universe would I want to be a _Kaiba_?"

"In the universe where it's the only way for you and Mokuba to stay together and still escape the system."

* * *

They went home that night, Seto insisting that he didn't want to overstay his welcome. He made dinner for Mokuba, and they enjoyed a nice, quiet night at home together. The next day, he gathered together the assignments he'd missed on Friday and set about making them up. That night, he planned on bringing his current arrangement to an end once and for all.

When Seto went to meet the pimp for purpose of handing over his payout, he took the Millennium Rod with him instead of the money and left Mokuba locked in his room for safety. This ended here. When Seto called on it, Seth channeled the Shadow Magic so that it didn't kill the vile man, only punished him. Seto walked away unharmed and without giving up a good chunk of his hard-earned cash. He had no qualms or regrets about what he'd done, and Seth found himself saddened by the whole thing.

"Seto, you need to stop laughing when you exact vengeance from your enemies. It's disturbing," Seth scolded as Seto strolled out of the alleyway where he'd left the pimp and his goons in mental agony, his coat billowing out behind him dramatically.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did," Seto said darkly, not even bothering to look at the spirit beside him, who sighed in response.

"I wouldn't expect you to, but please don't make a habit of this. I don't want to have to argue with you about the use of magic."

"I would only do this to people who absolutely deserve it, like Gozaburo and them"—he jerked his head in the direction of the alleyway they'd left behind—"and now that they're all taken care of, I can't think of anybody else in my life who's like that. I don't foresee needing to do anything like that again in the immediate future."

Seth figured it was the best he could hope to get at the moment. "From now on, just leave the mind crushing to me, okay?"

"Fair enough, since you know all about the shadow magic and I know next to nothing about it. I just wanted to deal with him personally."

The ancient pharaoh fell silent then, the conversation at an end. Seto continued walking home, enjoying the silence. He wasn't prepared for what he saw when he got home, however.

"Where did he go off to _this_ time?" his father was demanding of Mokuba, who looked terrified of their drunk father as he yelled at him. Seto sprang into action immediately, and at first Seth was afraid that he might use the Millennium Rod and attempt to use Shadow Magic, but that was the last thing on Seto's mind. He grabbed his father and pulled him away from the child, pushing him against the wall and keeping him pinned there as the drunk struggled against him. He glanced down the hall at the door to his own room, and saw that the lock must have been broken.

"Mokuba, go to your room and lock the door. I'll come get you." It was all he had to say for Mokuba to scamper off to his room and close the door firmly, locking it, much to Seto's satisfaction. "What have I told you?" he snarled, still pinning his father to the wall. His father laughed, clearly high, and Seto slammed him against the wall again. "What. Have. I. Told. You."

"Not to touch him," his father finally answered, his eyes glazed and his pupils widely dilated.

"Exactly. If you ever lay another finger on him or talk to him like that again, I swear I'll—" His father's laughter interrupted him, only making him more furious.

"You'll what?"

"I'll put my money in a bank where you can't snatch it to pay for your drugs and booze."

"You wouldn't do that. You don't trust anybody, let alone a bank."

"Maybe I'm changing." Seto released his father, who stumbled away, leaving out the front door as he mumbled to himself something incomprehensible. Seto sighed and knocked on Mokuba's door. "Mokuba, it's safe to come out now."

Mokuba came out of the room and threw himself at his brother, Seto crouching down to hug him tightly.

"I don't want you going away anymore," he said, sounding distressed and on the verge of tears.

"I won't go away anymore, Mokuba," he murmured as he picked up his little brother and stood, holding him tightly in his arms. "Things are going to get a lot better from now on."

"You're not going to be hurt, anymore?" _Damn_. He'd thought that he'd been able to hide all that from Mokuba. "I saw your painkillers under the mattress," he explained quietly, wrapping his arms more securely around his brother's neck.

"No, Mokuba, I'm not going to get hurt anymore. You won't have to stay at Ryou's so late, we'll both get more sleep. Things are going to get better."

"Do you promise?"

Seto kissed Mokuba's cheek.

"Yes, I promise."


	17. Progress

"I've got a job interning for the archaeological department at the university," Seto said to Joey as he slid into the seat next to him second period.

"Wow, really?" His response was enthusiastic, but the look they exchanged was full of meaning. Joey may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he wasn't as nearly as stupid as some people thought him to be. He knew what this meant: Seto was somehow free of it all. He'd finally wormed his way out. "That's great, but I thought you were into computers?"

"I am. I'll be digitizing their findings and entering their artifacts catalog into online databases for other archaeologists to access."

"That's good news. Congrats." Joey smiled at him, genuinely pleased with the good news. The secret he carried weighed much lighter on his heart now. Before, he'd felt incredibly guilty for not doing or saying anything that could save Seto from the pain he endured. Now that he was out, it was just an uncomfortable, albeit illegal, pasts that he would, for a little while, struggle to put fully behind him before the memories finally started to fade.

Class started then, but that was alright by Joey. He was afraid that Ryou, seated behind Seto, had caught onto the meaning in their words and glances, and he didn't trust himself to answer any direct questions.

* * *

In their duel at lunch that day, Seto finally drew the Blue-Eyes to his hand, and he was just about to summon it when they were interrupted by the bell.

In truth, he didn't mind Yugi not knowing about his Blue-Eyes. It hindered his ability to predict Seto's strategy, which worked to the intelligent brunette's advantage. They may be friends, but that didn't mean that he would share all of his strategies with him.

Or with his grandfather, no matter how much of a Duel Monsters master he was. Some days he had the time to visit the Kame Game Shop with Yugi and Joey after school. Joey was frequenting the game shop more and more often these days, partly because Yugi's grandfather was helping Joey train to be a better duelist and partly because he felt more welcome there than he did at home. Sure, he still dropped his little sister off at home after school, but after that, he went straight to the game shop.

"Sometimes I think you care what happens to me more than my parents do," Joey admitted as he moped at the check-out counter of store while Grandpa Moto was getting his own dueling deck from the back.

"Come on, Joey, that can't be true," Yugi insisted, hugging his friend from the side. "I'm sure your parents care about you, they just have their own way of showing it."

Joey smiled sadly as he returned the hug.

"I doubt it, but thanks for tryin' to cheer me up, pal," he said.

"Don't be so sure about that," Solomon said with an understanding smile as he re-emerged. "Parents have their own way of things. Sometimes stress and work get in the way and cloud their thinking, and they don't realize that they haven't said the things they feel in too long."

Seto watched the exchange in silence since he didn't have anything to add to the conversation. He knew what it was like to have parents who didn't care, so he believed it was possible that Joey's parents didn't care about him. He also didn't know Joey's parents, so he didn't dare make a claim as to whether or not they cared about him.

He thought that Anzu was getting jealous of how much time Yugi spent with Joey. Seto was no expert in romance—far from it—but he was smart enough to know when a woman's designs on a man were frustrated. It was amusing to Seto more than anything else, and it was especially amusing to see how oblivious Yugi was to Anzu's intentions. He didn't doubt that Anzu was a genuine friend to Yugi, but he also didn't doubt that she wanted more than friendship with him.

While Anzu continued to flirt with Yugi and continued to fail, Seto continued to work for Mr. Bakura and the other archaeologists working for the university. Seth took great interest in Seto's new profession, often giving his commentary on the items in their catalog of findings while Seto digitized it, whether his commentary was solicited or not.

"They got it wrong," Seth exclaimed as he looked over Seto's shoulder at the screen. "We no longer used incense jars in ceremonies by the time I was pharaoh. It has to be at least a hundred years older than that." He was silent for a few moments. "Aren't you going to fix it?"

"We've been over this, Seth," Seto sighed. "I can't alter the content of the records they kept, even if you believe they're incorrect."

"Which they are," Seth insisted. "I mean, they get most things right, which is amazing considering that all of these artifacts are thousands of years old. I think they'd appreciate my corrections."

"If they knew about you, they might, but the only one who does know about you is Mr. Bakura, and the only reason he knows is because Ryou told him all about the Shadow Game you and the pharaoh played with the Spirit of the Ring."

"I was a pharaoh too, you know," Seth reminded him as he paced behind his hikari, his pride wounded by Seto's forgetfulness.

"I know, but we don't have the other's name."

"I know his name."

"Yes, but you also said it was dangerous to share it," Seto reminded him. "And if I don't call him by his name, then I won't accidentally share it."

"Fair enough." Seth peered at the computer screen again. "That painting isn't depicting that myth," he commented.

"Doesn't matter, because I'm not allowed to change the records," Seto reminded him yet again.

"How are things going in here?" Mr. Bakura asked as he entered the dim computer room.

"Things are going well," he answered without looking up. "I'm almost done with the records of the 1998 expedition to the Valley of the Kings." Seto was digitizing not only the records and findings catalogs of the most recent expedition, but of all the archaeological expeditions the university had funded, which included expeditions to Italy, Central America, India, and Greece, in addition to Egypt. "However, my 'pharaoh friend' won't stop giving commentary on the records."

"You didn't ask me to stop," Seth said with a smirk.

"I can imagine," Mr. Bakura said with a laugh. "You're going through these faster than I anticipated. I'm not sure we'll be needing you around for much longer." He was looking somewhat concerned.

"Not to worry, sir. I've already submitted an application and resume to the Kaiba Corporation. Now that they've shifted from the weapons industry to the gaming industry, they need computer programmers working for them full-time, and I may not have gone to college—yet—but I know more about computer programming than your average undergrad. I plan on graduating high-school at the end of the term, so it'll be a permanent position."

"I'm glad to hear that you have plans for what comes next," Ryou's father said with a look of relief. "It's good to see you doing so well. My wife will be glad to hear it." He turned to leave, but Seto's voice stopped him.

"Thank you again, sir, for all you and your wife did to help me. It means a lot."

"You're welcome," Kenji said with a smile before he left.

"Are you sure you want to work at KaibaCorp?" Seth asked dubiously as he leaned against the desk where Seto was working.

"Of course I am," Seto answered indifferently. "There are numerous layers of corporation bureaucracy between a humble programmer and the CEO. I'll never have to talk to him again."

"And if you get promoted, as we both know you will be?"

"Even if I were promoted to the head of programming, I doubt I'd be encountering that bastard directly."

"He could blackmail you if he finds out that you're working for his corporation."

Seto laughed aloud at that. He laughed hard enough that Seth began to frown at him impatiently.

"Yes, Noah Kaiba would blackmail me because he is so obviously in need of a piece of my fortune!" Seto was incredibly amused by the idea that someone like Noah would bother blackmailing someone like him.

"People blackmail for more than just money," Seth said darkly. "If you do get that job, please be careful. He's still capable of great evil."

"He's gone from chess champion to Duel Monsters champion," Seto said dismissively. "He's nothing more than a rich, spoiled brat who spends too much time playing games. I'm not afraid of him."

"He is a genius in his own right."

"Well, maybe he could have been if he hadn't ruined his brain with all the alcohol and drugs. He's been busted for them like, what, four times?" He grunted disdainfully. "And they still accept the bail and the fine as due punishment for him without incarceration. That's the justice system for you."


	18. Blackmail

After the lock on Seto's door had been broken, he'd borrowed a screwdriver from their landlord and swapped his and Mokuba's bedroom doors. He'd decided that it would take less effort and time than if they moved all of their things from Seto's room to Mokuba's room. Something had to move, and Seto had chosen the doors. No way was he going to let Mokuba sleep in a room without a lock on the door. It didn't take all that long for Seto to complete the swap, and as soon as he finished up, he told his brother that it was time for bed.

"I'm scared, Seto," the middle-schooler admitted timidly, not wanting to sleep in Seto's bed alone.

Thus, Seto had moved the mattress off of his bed-frame and pushed it against the other mattress on the floor. The two brothers were sleeping together again, and Mokuba started to feel safer. This arrangement, however, did not come without its drawbacks, which he would discover in the coming weeks.

"Seto! Seto, wake up!"

The elder brother woke with a start, sighing after a moment as he identified Mokuba's face in the obscuring shadows of the room. He was panting hard as he rolled onto his side, still trying to recover himself after his dream.

"What's wrong?" he asked the wide-eyed child.

"You were crying in your sleep," Mokuba murmured as he lay down again, looking his brother in the eye. His small hand reached out and held Seto's cheek as concern weighed heavily on his heart. "Were you… having a nightmare?"

"Yes," Seto answered somewhat breathlessly, trying to hide the true terror he felt as he embraced his brother. "But it was nothing more than a dream. I'm okay. We're okay."

"Are you sure?" Mokuba asked, furrowing his brow as his cheek pressed against Seto's cotton t-shirt. It puzzled him that his brother wouldn't take his shirt off no matter how hot he got at night now, even though summer weather had arrived early this year. He'd done so last summer, so why not now? Was he hiding something? Was he shier now than he had been a year ago?

"Yes, I'm sure. Go back to sleep, Mokuba. I'm sorry I woke you."

Mokuba nestled in against his brother and drifted back to sleep while Seto focused on calming himself. When he'd awoken, he'd felt like he could hardly breathe. He wasn't surprised that he'd made noises in his sleep, given just how upsetting his dream had been.

 _Gozaburo's dead,_ he repeated over and over in his mind, still somewhat unable to believe that fact.

 _Yes, he's gone, and he can never hurt you again,_ Seth murmured into his mind, casting a spell of deep sleep over his hikari, who instinctively struggled against the magic. _Let me help you, Seto. Stop trying to fight me._

Seto didn't answer the spirit in words, but he did cease resisting, letting out a sigh of defeat as he relaxed into sleep.

Seth wished for Seto to trust him. He couldn't think of anything more that he could do to _make_ Seto trust him. He wondered if the troubled teen would ever fully trust anybody. If he couldn't trust someone with whom he shared a body, someone whose heart, mind, and soul were all open to Seto's exploration at any point in time, how could he ever trust somebody whose inner self was closed to him? He prayed to Ra that one day, Seto would have his faith in humanity restored so that he could find it in himself to trust again. How could Seto ever love if he couldn't trust?

* * *

At the end of the term, Seto applied for his diploma early—since he'd earned it—and graduated with as little pomp as possible, according to his plan. His father didn't care, but his friends were all proud of him and quite impressed, and their opinions mattered far more to him than his father's. By this point, he'd already applied to KaibaCorp and received notice that they wanted him to come in for an evaluation. A week later, he was working full-time for them doing what he loved: programming computer software, and in doing so, he was able to help KaibaCorp pioneer the field of holographic projections.

As one of their most promising software specialists, he'd been paired with one of their most promising hardware specialists, someone that he was surprised to recognize: Duke Devlin, who attended Domino High and was in the same class as Joey, Yugi, and the others. He'd had little occasion to interact with him in the past, so he knew almost nothing about him, except that he was a player, popular with the ladies (and even some guys), and the proud owner of a cherry red motorcycle. His demeanor was laid-back and careless, so it surprised Seto that he turned out to be so precise and careful with his machines.

They worked well as a team, and Seto found that he actually enjoyed Duke's company. It was nice to have a room for the two of them to brainstorm and work on both aspects of their project: the coded programs that Seto wrote and the machines that would exercise the codes perfectly, if all went as planned. Seto was grateful above all that he had steady pay and didn't have to interact with numerous idiots on a daily basis. He had no patience for idiots, and Duke Devlin certainly wasn't an idiot.

The Duel Arena was their brain-child, and neither could have pulled it off on their own, but together, they created a structure that would take the whole gaming world by storm. Seto was proud of himself and what he and Duke had accomplished. It had caught the attention of more powerful figures in the company and earned both of them a raise and assurance of a permanent position at KaibaCorp. That gave Seto a sense of financial security he'd never had before, not even as a child. Soon, he'd have enough money that he could move his brother out of their current apartment and live in a better, safer part of town. Seto didn't really feel bad about leaving his father to his own devices: after all, that was exactly what he'd done to his sons when he'd surrendered himself to alcoholism. Maybe it would be the wake up call the man needed in order to pull his life together.

* * *

"I don't think there's anything more I can do to prevent scarring," Mrs. Bakura said with a sigh as Seto pulled his shirt back on. She'd asked him to come by so that she could check how he was healing. "I guess we'll just have to let time heal what it can. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, you did the best you could," he assured.

"Well, I'm sure you don't _want_ those scars to be permanent, so I would suggest looking into homeopathic methods of fading them, although I can't recommend any myself. I hear that different ones work better for different people. I can't imagine how you'll explain them to your wife one day."

Seto froze as he reached for the doorknob. _Wife?!_ He wasn't even thinking about a girlfriend at this point, let alone a wife! He was of the same opinion as Ryou, that all the girls in their class at Domino were too shallow and air-headed to be worth his time. Besides, Seto had become entirely asexual since his career change, although he didn't know just yet that was the word for it. Not only was he entirely disillusioned with romance but his body viscerally rejected any notion of or attempt at human contact, especially sexual contact. He wasn't exaggerating when he said that he wanted nothing to do with any of that ever again. Mokuba was the only one who could touch him without causing him distress.

"I don't really… plan on getting married, so… that's not gonna happen." His rebuff was about as awkward as it could possibly have been, and it didn't help that he was starting to blush. He was just grateful that Ryou's mother seemed to understand, and yet still chose to make light of it to put him at ease.

"Come now, Seto, you're too young to be a misanthrope," she teased light-heartedly.

"I'm _not_ a misanthrope," he defended with a crooked grin. "Just an aspiring antisocialite."

* * *

They'd nearly finished their first big project and were starting to move on to something else when something happened that set both genius teens on edge.

"The Duel Arena is all well and good, but we need some way to make it portable, so that people can duel with the holographic monster projections anywhere," Seto mused leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the edge of his desk. "I bet something like that would be a real hot ticket item."

"What was that?" Duke called, his entire upper body immersed in the internal machinery of the Duel Arena's corner projector with only his legs clearly visible. He started to shift out from their invention, but gave a sudden cry. "Ow! Wait, hold on." Seto rolled his eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you to tie your hair back before climbing into one of those things?"

"I'm not going to let practicality cramp my style!" Duke declared as he untangled his ponytail from one of the mechanisms and finally emerged. "What did you say?"

"I said," Seto answered in exasperation, "That we need to get started on the next big thing: something that does the job of a Duel Arena, but is one hundred percent portable. Something that an individual who _isn't_ a millionaire can still afford."

"Ah, that'll be tricky," Duke said, sounding excited. "I'll get started on some sketches as soon as I finish tweaking the calibration on this corner." He made to go back into the machine as Seto stood and walked over to the whiteboard on the far wall, erasing its contents and starting to make a list of objectives for their next project: portable, affordable…

"Excuse me, Master Kaiba would like to see you both in his office right away."

Both teens looked towards the doorway and saw that one of Noah Kaiba's personal bodyguards had come down to fetch them. They looked at each other as they put down what they were doing and followed their escort to the elevator. He didn't say anything more and neither did they, so the elevator was filled with a stifling silence as the tension grew. They were instructed to sit in the chairs outside his office and wait to be called in.

* * *

"We won't fail you, Master Kaiba," Johnson assured as he and his four associates stood in front of their employer's desk.

"For your sakes, I hope you don't," Noah said menacingly, handing over the large scroll of blueprints. "You five should have access to all the funds and research data you'll need. If any of my tech nerds give you difficulty, let me know, and I'll have them straightened out." He sat back in his father's desk chair, looking utterly diabolical. "You're sure you can have it completed by the deadline I've given you?"

"Yes sir," Krump assured eagerly. "I've run the numbers, and the odds of our falling behind schedule are only 0.5%"

"Make sure that you don't. Now get out, I have a meeting." They all bowed respectfully to their arrogant superior and left to do as they'd been bidden.

* * *

Five big-wig businessmen exited the corporation president's office and the secretary seated outside that very door instructed that one of the two teens enter. Duke went in first. He was only gone for maybe five minutes, but when he came back out, his mood had entirely shifted. All smiles were gone and he was looking more grim than Seto had ever seen him before.

When Seto went in, he understood why.

"You are going to sign this document, surrendering all your rights to invention of the Duel Arena to me."

"Why would I do something like that?" Seto demanded, crossing his arms, even though he already had an idea of why. Noah's creepy smile just confirmed it for him.

"Because I have information about you that you wouldn't want to be made public—or given to the authorities, for that matter. Prostitution is illegal, last time I checked."

Seto ground his teeth as he withheld any response he wanted to make.

"Then again, I could always have you arrested for grand theft."

"What?!"

"Technically, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon has been valued at tens of thousands of dollars, which would make your stealing it _grand_ theft."

"This is blackmail."

"Which means that you can't report it without turning yourself in."

"But I didn't _steal_ your card, I won it fairly."

"But you _did_ sell your body."

It was all Seto could do to keep himself from cringing in response, or from lunging for Noah's throat. He had to settle with glaring at him instead. The CEO cackled then smirked at his employee.

He still remembered when Duke and Seto's success at creating the Duel Arena had first come to his attention in a report from the supervisor of product creation, files of their invention's capabilities as well as their initial applications left on his desk for his perusal. The moment he'd opened Seto's file, he'd been filled with a sadistic sense of glee. He'd finally found the insolent one who'd defeated him in chess. In his initial disdain for the individual, he'd never even asked his name, which made it impossible to find him with the resources he'd had at his disposal. Now, though, he had him under his thumb, entirely subject to his will, and he couldn't be happier.

"I'm waiting for that signature, Seto."

The brunette stepped forward and picked up the stapled stack of paper, glancing over it quickly.

"By signing this, I surrender all patent rights, all copyrights, all royalty rights, everything?"

"Yes, and if you tell anybody that you and your partner were the real inventors of the Duel Arena, I will make your life hell."

Seto grit his teeth as he picked up the pen, signing the contract, but hating every moment of it. Well, it could be worse, right? He could be fired. That would be worse.

"Thank you, that will be all," Noah said dismissively, and Seto made himself leave _without_ committing an act of violence.

He rejoined Duke outside the executive's office and they walked to the elevator together. As they slowly descended, they remained silent, neither wishing to speak.

"So, he's got dirt on you too, huh?" Duke said at last, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Seto sighed, looking at the floor. The silence became sad and awkward as they returned to their work-room. Having all rights to their invention taken from them felt like having a child taken from them, because it _was_ their child, their brainchild.

"Well, no matter what happens, at least _we'll_ know the truth," Duke said in an attempt to cheer Seto up. The brunette just shrugged and stepped out of the elevator, leading the way back to their work-room to continue their brainstorming for the portable Duel Arena replacement.

 _I'm sorry, Seto, but I did warn you that something like this might happen,_ Seth murmured in the back of Seto's mind, making his hikari begin to doubt his decision to work for KaibaCorp in the first place.

Meanwhile, their boss reveled in his success. Noah's heartless chuckle quickly escalated to a maniacal laugh, and he only ceased because the sound of a female voice interrupted him.

"I take it that went well?" His girlfriend stepped out of the private bathroom attached to his office. He'd asked her to hide in there while he took care of some "boring business," so he called it.

"Incredibly well," Noah answered with a smirk. "Everything is going _perfectly_."

"Does that mean that you can take a break from work for a little while?" She smiled slyly and slunk over to him, easing herself onto his lap and straddling it fearlessly as she ran a hand through his bright green hair. Noah twirled a strand of her long purple hair around his finger as he grinned up at her.

"I always have time for you, babe."

* * *

"Hey Seto, how's your big project going?" Mokuba asked as Seto started walking him home from the Bakura's house that evening. He still paid Ryou to babysit Mokuba for him while he was at work, since he still didn't like the idea of leaving Mokuba home alone. He was just too young, and their father was too unpredictable, that it wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"It's almost done," Seto said after a moment, pausing as he realized that—because of the contract he'd signed that morning—he'd need to tell Mokuba to forget everything his brother had told him about the Duel Arena's creation.

He tried to explain it as best as he could, but Mokuba was focused on _why_ he needed to forget.

"It doesn't matter why, it just matters that you forget all about it, _especially_ the fact that I helped create it. You need to promise me that you'll never tell _anybody_ that I helped invent it, okay?"

Mokuba promised even though he didn't understand why. He trusted that Seto had a good reason for it.

"You didn't already tell anybody about it, did you?"

"No, I didn't tell anybody," his brother answered, believing his words to be true.

They weren't. He'd told Amane about it a couple weeks ago, but he'd completely forgotten that he had.


	19. Seeking

When Mokuba's birthday arrived, Seto tried hard to make it special for him. After all, Seto's own birthdays as a youngster hadn't been much celebrated or noticed, and he didn't want Mokuba to go through that as well.

Seto always woke Mokuba in the morning, but on his birthday, it was the smell of fresh pancakes that woke his little brother. Seto had acquired several cooking skills out of necessity and had become quite proficient in what he knew. Mokuba had gone through a stage of picky eating when he was eight, and thirteen-year-old Seto had needed to work hard to get his brother to eat much of anything.

They were chocolate chip pancakes, which put his now twelve-year-old brother in a good mood for the long walk to the KaibaCorp Headquarters. He'd cleared it with his supervisor beforehand, so it was alright for him to bring Mokuba in to work with him that day. He'd also let Duke know so that he wouldn't be surprised.

"Hi there, I'm Duke," the mechanical genius greeted as he held out a hand to Mokuba, who shook it with a smile. "You must be Mokuba. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Mokuba said with a smile. "You built that?" he asked, looking behind Duke at the Duel Arena prototype.

"Yep, and your brother did all the programming," Duke said, after double checking that the door was closed. They could get away with this so long as it never got to Noah that Mokuba had come in with Seto. Duke had started to suspect that he had moles acting as his eyes and ears in every corner of the company, so they'd taken extra precautions like closing their door while they were working. "Want to test it out?"

"Can I?" Mokuba said excitedly, unable to believe his ears.

"Of course you can!" Duke answered, with a wink. "We need to test it out again to see if your brother finally worked out all the kinks in the card-reader."

"Hey, you try staring at endless pages of computer coding and _not_ having difficulty picking out the errors. It's a different language completely, just like Portuguese or Farsi."

"Nah, I'll leave that to nerds like you," Duke teased playfully.

"Hey, speak for yourself," Seto joked back, Mokuba grinning the whole time. He enjoyed seeing his brother so happy. He hoped that things stayed this way for a long time. He never wanted things to go back to when Seto was always working late, always in pain, always tired.

"Are you ready to duel?" Duke asked with a sly grin."

* * *

That night, the two of them were very content indeed. Mokuba had crawled over to Seto as he sat on their bed and looked over Duke's preliminary sketches for their portable Duel Arena idea. The child curled up at his brother's side, content to just be near him.

"Seto, do you need glasses?" Mokuba asked finally after nearly fifteen minutes of watching his brother squint at Duke's angular handwriting and faint pencil sketches.

"What? No, that's ridiculous," he answered, quickly dismissing the idea.

"But didn't Mom wear reading glasses?"

Seto was silent for a few moments, then answered, "Yeah, she did."

"So it's not _that_ ridiculous that you might need them too, right?" Mokuba pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Seto answered with a sigh, smiling at his brother.

 _I told you that there was something wrong with your vision,_ Seth said, trying not to sound too triumphant.

 _Shut up, you,_ Seto thought back at him with a tone of irritation. _I'll deal with it when I can afford to go to the eye doctor. Until then, I'll make do._

"Can you please tell me more about her?" Mokuba asked, making Seto inhale slowly as he dug into his deepest memories.

"I was really young, so I don't remember much," he said slowly. "I remember that she had dark hair, kinda like yours, but she kept it shorter. She baked the best chocolate chip cookies, and we always ate one as soon as they came out of the oven." He smiled at the memory, one of the few he had of her, but while he had few memories, they were all quite vivid. He could still remember the smell of the cookies, the burn of the melted chocolate chips against the roof of his mouth. He could still hear her voice telling him to eat it quickly before they cooled, because it was a proven fact that chocolate always tasted best when hot. He could still see her broad smile, warm and understanding and kind. God, he missed her. "She did wear reading glasses, not just when she was reading, but also when she sketched."

"She liked to draw?" Mokuba asked with surprise, not having heard this detail before.

"Yeah, just like you," he answered. "I remember that she drew some pictures of you right after you were born, when you were still really tiny."

"Do we have any of her drawings?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"I don't know, but I'll look tomorrow."

"How big was I when I was born?" he asked, suddenly wanting to know not just more about her, but everything he could possibly know.

"Five pounds, nine ounces," Seto answered after a moment's thought. "You were pretty small, but then again, all babies seemed really small to me when I was that young. She worried about you a lot." The memories of his mother after Mokuba's birth were more detailed, more clear. "Every time you cried, she was afraid that she'd done something wrong." His mother's descent into post-partum anxiety was a less rosy memory, though no less cherished than any others. She may have been fretful and frazzled for the few months between his brother's birth and her own death, but she hadn't loved any of them any less.

"Was there… _reason_ for her to be worried?" Mokuba asked, suddenly afraid that there had been something wrong with him when he was an infant.

"I'm inclined to say no, but I only understood a fraction of what was going on at the time." It was the best answer he could give. "I remember… I remember her singing you lullabies, trying to get you to sleep." He didn't want to go into the details of their mother's panic attacks, the episodes in which she'd gone frantic with worry for her baby and the only thing that could calm her down was… "Dad was different back then. He was a good husband and a good father. It was only after we lost Mom that he changed." They both sat in sad, uncomfortable silence. "They really loved each other." Mokuba's smaller hand slipped into Seto's, holding it tightly.

"What's the last thing you remember of her?" Mokuba asked. Seto felt reluctant to answer, but Mokuba sensed this and said, "I'm old enough that I can handle it."

"She was sick," Seto said, trying to maintain his sense of calm. "She was sick in bed, and she wanted to hold you, but she was too afraid of you getting sick too." Seto finally set aside the sketches he'd been looking at and pulled Mokuba up into his lap, his little brother putting his arms around Seto's neck.

"Weren't you the only one with her when…?" He couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yes," he whispered. "She was sick, but she was holding me… I couldn't leave her alone." Seto was starting to choke up. These memories were far too poignant for him to think about for much longer without crying.

"But, wasn't that dangerous for you?" Mokuba asked, astonished.

"Yes, but I couldn't seem to die." Seto laughed a little bitterly at that, remembering how long she'd been sick and how much time he'd spent with her, yet he'd been fine. "I never left her side the whole time, but I never got sick. I probably should have, since she seemed to fear that it was contagious, but I have no idea what she was sick with." Seto took another steadying breath, and said, "I remember that one of the last things she asked me was to tell you that she loved you. She made me promise to protect you, which is what I've always done." He kissed Mokuba's forehead. "And I never break promises, do I?"

"No, you don't," Mokuba said with a faint smile. "Because you shouldn't make promises you can't keep, right?"

"That's right." Seto was glad that what he'd been teaching his brother all his life was sticking in his young mind: Don't make promises you can't keep. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Only initiate a fight in the defense of others. Never act out of anger. Never lie, because lies always catch up with you. Don't hide your mistakes, because painful consequences are always preferable to the pain of guilt.

"Just like when I kissed Amane and I promised her that—"

"What?!" Alarms started going off in Seto's brain as he stared down at his brother, who's started to blush. "You did what?!"

"I… kissed her," Mokuba answered hesitantly, not understanding the cause for the severity of his brother's reaction.

Seto sighed heavily, taking a moment to stare up at the ceiling. _I'm too young to have to worry about things like this,_ he inwardly bemoaned.

 _Then let me help,_ Seth offered. The moment Seto felt Seth's mental presence try to push forward, his defenses went up, blocking Seth out.

 _Don't do this, Seto,_ Seth pleaded. _I'm not trying to take over, I'm just trying to work_ with _you. Or do you want to explain these things to your brother_ without _my guidance?_

"Seto?" His brother's prolonged silence was starting to worry Mokuba.

"We need to have a talk," Seto said at last as he let Seth ease his way into Seto's consciousness. He could feel the ancient spirit providing him with the peace of mind and clarity of speech that he needed for this discussion, and for the first time, the two of them operated as one.

* * *

"I should have done this ages ago," Ryou muttered to himself as he propped his laptop on his thighs and slouched against the pillows on his bed, adjusting the angle of his bent knees as he opened the device and logged onto his account. He was tired of _wondering_ why Seto shied away from his touch, as he did everybody else's except Mokuba. He opened his Internet browser and began typing something into Google, his brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to recall all of the strangenesses Seto had been exhibiting in the last few months.

"What are you doing?" Marik asked as he popped his head through Ryou's doorway. Ryou paused in what he was doing and glanced, his face softening as he saw Marik.

"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with Seto," he answered, causing Marik to enter out of curiosity. As Marik sat down facing him at the foot of the bed, Ryou pulled himself up so that he was no longer slouching, his legs fully extended in front of him as he kept the computer on his lap. Two pairs of legs ran parallel to each other across the bedspread, touching at the knees, but neither minded. Marik remained silent, contemplating all of his interactions with Seto.

"I don't know why I didn't think to do this before," Ryou repeated, half to himself.

"Do what?"

"Use Google to see if here's something _actually_ wrong with him."

" _Actually_ wrong?" Marik tipped his head to the side in confusion.

"Like, a disorder or, heaven forbid, a disease," Ryou said in explanation as he thoughtfully perused the Wikipedia page about haphephobia, the fear of being touched:

_"Some people are born with haphephobia, while others may develop it, predominantly after a bad experience. More rarely, it is caused by an extreme reaction to their environment. Sometimes, the fear is restricted specifically, or predominantly, to being touched by people of the opposite or same sex. This is often associated with a fear of sexual assault. Michel Dorais reports that many boys who have been the victims of sexual abuse have a fear of being touched, quoting one victim who describes being touched as something that 'burns like fire,' causing him to freeze up or lash out." (1)_

"Uh oh." The words passed Ryou's lips involuntarily, and Marik began to look concerned.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure about it yet, but I have a feeling that this will turn out very badly…" He didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet and voice his fears to Marik, in case he was wrong. Since he knew that Seto hadn't _always_ been like this (after all Seto had hugged him after he helped Ryou extract the Millennium Ring from his chest at school), he clicked on the link to "sexual assault," finding it to be the most likely cause, as much as it sickened him to think of it. He went from "sexual assault" to "rape," eventually making his way to the "rape trauma syndrome" page. Far too many symptoms either reminded Ryou of things he and Mokuba had witnessed in Seto or of Seto's typical behavioral patterns. Too much fit him too well.

Seto probably didn't realize how much his little brother told Ryou about him. Every nightmare, every sleepless night, every unexplained injury got reported back to Ryou ever since he'd gotten into the habit of asking Mokuba how his brother was doing.

Eventually, Ryou's heart ached too much, and he closed the browser window and his laptop, tucking it under his bed before sitting up and hugging himself as he struggled internally through all the information he'd just absorbed. Marik, who'd been waiting patiently and quietly for the results of Ryou's research, pulled his legs up under him and crawled to the other end of the bed, nudging his head against Ryou's shoulder in a somewhat feline manner as he knelt beside his best friend.

"What did you find out?" he finally asked, and Ryou sighed heavily as he put an arm around Marik's shoulders and gathered his thoughts for an answer.

"Someone hurt him, that much I know for sure," he said at last, leaning into the warm, solid presence of his best friend. That wasn't new information, since he and Marik both still vividly remembered the night that Seto had collapsed on their doorstep and his parents had retreated into the privacy of the guest room to take care of him. Mr. and Mrs. Bakura hadn't let either Ryou or Marik see Seto or the true state he was in, though, so they still lacked those details. "I don't know how, not with certainty at least, but he's hiding something that he should have reported as soon as it happened." Marik considered his words.

"Do you think someone… took advantage of him?"

That was a gracious way of putting it.

"It makes the most sense," Ryou admitted quietly. The tanned teen seemed repulsed by the idea, but not surprised, as if he'd been considering it as a possibility all along. Marik's arm around him pulled him closer. "Do you think getting him to talk about it could help?"

"I don't know if it would help, but I _do_ know that he couldn't have a better friend to talk to than you," Marik answered, giving Ryou's cheek a kiss as he put his other arm around him. The two stretched out along the bed and cuddled, Marik hoping that it would make the burden of knowledge cause Ryou less distress.

Maybe it was the warmth of their position as the lay comfortably together, or maybe it was the fact that Ryou had stayed up half the night writing a new scenario for the Monster World RPG, but he soon drifted off into a light doze without even meaning to. Marik just smiled and closed his eyes, resting his head against Ryou's as he let him nap. He was unaware when Ryou's father paused at the half-open door to his son's bedroom and smiled. He passed on after a moment, not wanting to disturb them. After all, their love was a beautiful thing.

* * *

Ryou looked out the window as he waited for Seto to arrive. He was usually like clockwork, but today he was late, and it worried him. Mr. Bakura had, as a surprise, set Marik up on a video chat with his siblings back in Egypt. Marik had become droll and homesick as of late, and Ryou was glad to see him so animated and lively again. Mokuba and Amane were cuddling on the couch, and while Ryou felt that he ought to be keeping an eye on them—he had a sneaking suspicion that Mokuba could actually be fairly charming if he tried—he was too distracted. After the research he'd done on Seto's behavioral symptoms, any deviance from his usual patterns caught Ryou's attention and held it until he knew that everything was alright.

As he watched the street corner, resting his chin in his hands, Seto rounded it in a blur of movement, running like there was no tomorrow. But he looked as if he'd been running for a while, and he glanced over his shoulder, the gesture allowing Ryou to see the panic on his face. He stumbled, and his head snapped forward again. He came to a halting stop, then ducked into the narrow alley between Ryou's house and the one next door. He was acting like he was being chased, but Ryou didn't see anybody following him in pursuit.

Ryou sat up and slipped on his shoes, then stepped out the front door and went to join Seto before anybody could ask him where he was going. He found him crouched at the base of the wall, panting hard.

"Seto, are you okay?"

The brunette started at the sound of Ryou's voice, tensing for a moment, then relaxing again and closing his eyes as he let his head fall back against the wall. He didn't seem able to answer, but whether it was because he didn't know or he was out of breath was unclear. Ryou carefully sat down beside him, close, but not touching him. Ever since he'd suspected Seto of having hapnophobia—haptephobia—whatever it was—he'd been careful not to touch Seto without permission. He liked to think that it was appreciated, even though it was difficult for him to do, since he—like Marik—communicated affection and comfort primarily through touch.

"Seto, did somebody hurt you?" his question was a faint whisper. Seto opened his eyes and stared ahead at the wall they were facing, silent as he tried to piece together an answer for him.

"I-I can't remember what happened," he whispered at last, shaking his head a little. "But… I don't think so, not this time."

"This time?" Ryou repeated, afraid that his fears were about to be confirmed. Seto mentally cursed himself for his verbal slip up, retreating into his own mind as he sought out Seth to ask him for information, his hand unconsciously going to the length of the Millennium Rod as he did so. Ryou noticed this and decided to wait and let Seto commune with Seth before speaking again.

 _Seth, you didn't take over, did you?_ Seto asked, privately hoping that the answer was yes. If so, then the mystery was solved.

 _No, you fought off your attacker yourself this time, Seto,_ he answered, a touch of pride in his pained voice. Seto recognized that voice; it was the one Seth used when he waxed paternal and called Seto "son" and "child."

 _Did you at least see who it was?_ He knew the statistics: 96% of all rapes were committed by someone who already knew the victim in some capacity. If Seth could describe him, he could identify his attacker and report him to the police.

 _No, I'm sorry, I didn't,_ Seth answered faintly. _If I had seen who it was, I promise you, I would do all I could to bring him to justice._

 _Do you at least remember what happened?_ Seto asked, desperate for any scrap of information he could get. He hated not being able to remember what happened.

Seth hesitated, then answered, _I do, my son, but I'm not going to share it with you._

 _Why not?_ Seto demanded, getting angry with Seth and with himself. Was he really so weak-minded that such trauma was enough to shock him into selective amnesia? After everything he'd suffered, was there really anything that could cause him trauma?

 _Because there's a reason that your mind blocked the memory,_ Seth answered patiently. _It would tear you apart all over again. Besides,_ he continued, addressing the thoughts that Seto hadn't directly aimed at him. _This was a surprise. Every other time, you were expecting something and you were, technically, willing, in body though not in spirit._

 _Are you sure you didn't just CHOOSE to take this memory from me?_ he snapped somewhat savagely. He hated that Seth was implying someone had attempted to rape him, but he had to admit that such a thing would indeed explain his faintly shaking hands and rapidly beating heart.

 _I would sooner have taken over and stopped it myself,_ Seth scoffed. _I would have stepped in if you'd needed me to, but you didn't. Besides, erasing your memories is a post facto remedy; I'd rather prevent the event in the first place._

Frustrated, Seto strained his mind to recall what had happened: he'd left the office, walked two blocks—then everything became a black, blurry headache. After that, he just remembered running fast and hard until he came here, knowing that he was possibly being pursued, possibly fleeing an assailant. Why did his hair feel like it had been yanked at its roots and why did his arm ache like it had been forcefully twisted behind his back? Seth forced Seto out of his memories, casting a sense of calm over his hikari so that he could take the time he needed to work through this instead of breaking down in distress.

 _Please, don't hurt yourself trying to remember,_ Seth chided tenderly, easing the headache Seto had induced by taking the pain for himself as he hoped that Seto would just let the matter be. _You're safe now, and that's the most important thing._

"Seto…"

Ryou's voice brought Seto back to himself, and he realized that he'd started to weep. He glanced over to see that Ryou was offering him a handkerchief, and he accepted it with a mumbled thanks as he started to dry his eyes.

"May I hug you?" Ryou asked, feeling otherwise helpless to comfort his friend.

"Yeah," Seto answered after a moment, bracing himself for the contact but sighing with relief as Ryou's hug actually caused him no discomfort or distress. Maybe it was because Ryou had been less touchy lately, or maybe it was simply because he'd asked for permission first, but Seto was actually able to find comfort in physical contact aside from Mokuba for the first time in a long while. It felt so good, he didn't want to let go.

"Thank you," he said at last, releasing the shorter teen and pulling himself back to his feet, Ryou following suit with a look of concern.

"You should tell somebody what happened," Ryou said softly, still looking worried.

"If I can't even remember the attack, then there's nothing to report," Seto said dismissively, trying to pull himself together. After all, he hadn't been injured and he had no information about the attacker, so what was there worth saying?

"Seto—"

"I'm not going to argue with you about this."

"What about the last time, then?" Ryou's voice was soft, but piercing.

Seto looked up at Ryou sharply, suddenly wondering just how much he knew.

"Have you been talking to Joey lately?" he asked out of the blue.

"Joey?" Ryou was now quite confused. "I don't see how that's rel—"

"Nevermind." Seto walked past Ryou, just wanting to put it all behind him.

Ryou sighed, and called softly, "I won't tell anybody, but if you ever do need to talk, I'm always willing to listen."

Seto hesitated, and answered quietly, "Thank you."

* * *

Noah Kaiba uncorked a bottle of Brunello as Miho got ice from the machine. They were in his top-floor office; she'd come to visit him, bothered by the fact that he was working so late.

"I still can't believe you were foolish to go for a walk without one of your bodyguards," Miho said disapprovingly as she re-entered the office with the ice and some paper towels.

"Well, I just wanted to stretch my legs briefly, I didn't think I needed them for so short a walk," he lied easily.

"Well, apparently you do." She sounded bitter.

"Are you mad at me, babe?" he asked as he poured their glasses of wine. He didn't care that they were underage, and neither did she. His staff knew better than to try and blackmail him or report him to the police.

"Yes, because it was careless, and I don't like seeing your pretty face all swollen like that." She pouted as she held the ice to his cheek, and he smiled at her charmingly.

"It won't kill me, you know. Give it a week, and you'll never even know that it was there." Secretly, he was furious that he'd been struck. No matter what, he was going to get his hands on that penniless, no good man-whore even if he had to lure him to this very office. Noah Kaiba always got what he wanted, no exceptions, and he wanted to break Seto in a way that his father never could.

He handed Miho her wineglass and held up his own. "To pleasure, and all that it implies," he said with that half-smile of seductive cunning that never failed to fascinate her.

"I'll drink to that," she purred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Quote from "Haphephobia" Wikipedia page.
> 
> It's actually possible for you to follow Ryou's internet search and recreate it yourself. If you were to go on Google and follow the links to Wikipedia, you'll see ALL of the things that disturbed Ryou and made him worry so much for Seto's wellbeing.


	20. Death-T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Text in bold denotes quotes from/allusions to the musical "Hamilton."

By the end of July, Mr. Bakura completed his doctoral thesis and, after presenting it before the board for cross-examination, earned his PhD, officially becoming Dr. Bakura. Within a matter of weeks, he was taking off for Egypt again on a new expedition. There must have been something important about this one that earned him sufficient funding so quickly.

Less than a week after the good doctor had left, a national holiday came around that let Seto and Mrs. Bakura both off of work for the day, so Mrs. Bakura took Amane and Mokuba to the museum. Ryou, who missed his father and had taken Marik to the same museum previously, stayed home with the Egyptian orphan, just wanting a quiet day of relative solitude. When Seto invited him to join him and Joey at the Game Shop, he thanked him, but turned him down. He just wanted to stay home.

Joey, Seto, and Yugi were hanging out at the Kame Game Shop, the national news playing on the TV as Mr. Moto explained to the three duelists about soul cards.

"For example, Yugi is the Dark Magician," Grandpa said as Yugi held up his favorite favorite card with a grin. "The Dark Magician is allied with several other duel monsters who can boost his power in battle. This is especially helpful when you're in a tight spot. He draws strength from his friends, not because he isn't strong on his own, but because it makes him unstoppable. He is most vulnerable when separated from his allies and forced into isolation, but he is not helpless, because, like any good magician, he always has some tricks up his sleeve. Respect the Dark Magician, and he will never fail you, for his loyalty is unwavering."

"Whoah, look at that!" Joey exclaimed, calling the group's attention to the TV. Seto scowled at the image of Noah Kaiba and Maximilian Pegasus shaking hands in front of the Duel Arena prototype. It was finally finished and ready for production, now that all of the kinks had been worked out. After hours and hours of cycling through every Duel Monsters card in existence—which was an incredibly valuable database to have at his disposal—they were satisfied that there were no glitches or errors in the system.

"World Chess Champion, International Duel Monsters Champion, and recently appointed CEO and president of KaibaCorp, Noah Kaiba announced at a press conference earlier today the release of the Duel Arena, which will soon be appearing in a new attraction at KaibaLand. His incredible invention will allow duels to take place with realistic monster holograms doing battle before your very eyes! These machines will bring a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'It's time to duel!' Furthermore, Mr. Pegasus of Industrial Illusions has confirmed that these will be used in official Duel Monsters tournaments this point forward. On that note, be sure to tune in tonight on the Dueling Network to watch the opening rounds of the Regional Duel Monsters Tournament hosted by Industrial Illusions."

Mr. Moto finally snapped out of the TV's hypnotic mental grip and snapped at Joey, "Pay attention, because I'm only going to say this once!" Joey nodded sheepishly, looking embarrassed. He opened his mouth to ask something, but was cut off by the ringing of the bell on the shop's door.

"This store sells Duel Monsters cards, yes?" The teens turned toward the voice, Seto a moment after the others. He already knew who it was without looking. That wretched voice that sounded nothing like him, yet its own was far too identical.

"Noah Kaiba?!" Joey gasped in awe. "You play Duel Monsters too, right? Maybe we could play a duel right now?"

Seto had to give Joey credit for trying. In the past five or six months, Joey had changed completely. He was now friendly, kind, and happy where before he'd been aggressive, rude, and angry. But sometimes it almost seemed as if he'd forgotten that everybody in the world had not changed with him.

" _Me_ duel _you_? I'd have more of a challenge playing solitaire," Noah scoffed, striding forward, his eyes cold and appraising. When he stopped in front of the counter, Seto straightened up, and the brief moment where the two faced each other was enough to charge the air with static. Everyone—even the imperceptive Joey—could feel a vague tension between them. Their matching blue eyes met for a moment before Seto looked away, not wanting to start something that he couldn't finish. He didn't want to fight him here, not in front of Yugi and his grandfather. Seto took a moment to indulge in a vision of him and Joey ganging up on the spoiled brat.

 _Steady,_ Seth cautioned softly, numbing his reincarnation's violent urges. _Don't tempt yourself._

"I've heard rumors that you own one of the four Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards. Is that true? Because if so, I'm willing to pay any price for it."

Yugi noticed Seto tense as Noah mentioned the dragon-type monster that he knew Seto sought.

 _You should take your own advice,_ Seto said to Seth as he felt the spirit bristle at Noah's words.

 _He is not worthy of commanding the Blue-Eyes,_ Seth growled, restraining himself from action.

"Oh ho ho ho," Solomon laughed heartily, for no reason that the teenagers could see. "You have been unfortunately misinformed. I am not so fortunate as to own a Blue-Eyes, but my good friend in America, Professor Arthur Hawkins, owns one. We met at an archaeological site in Egypt years ago. Let me get you his contact information." He disappeared into the back of the store to get his address book, leaving the four teenagers in a tense silence. Ever since Noah's rebuff, Joey had crossed his arms and stood glaring by Seto's side. Yugi was the only who seemed determined to uphold friendly, polite conversation.

"We just saw you on the TV. Those Duel Arenas look really neat!"

"I know." Noah smirked, a devious glint in his eye that sent an involuntary shiver run down his spine. "If you like, you three can test them out for yourselves at the new KaibaLand attraction before it opens."

"Really? That would be so cool!" Yugi enthused, even as Yami warned him to be wary of things that seemed too good to be true, because they usually weren't true at all.

"It was just completed and it needs to be tested. Come by Saturday morning and I'll let the guards know to be expecting you.

"Wow, thank you so much!"

"Here you go," Solomon said as he returned and handed Noah a slip of paper. Kaiba left as soon as he pocketed the paper, without even a thank you.

"Grandpa, why did you tell him that you don't have the card?" Yugi asked once Noah was speeding away in his limo.

"Because someone like him does not understand that he must trust in the heart of the cards," he answered his grandson seriously. "I can see his greed in his eyes. Besides, it was meant for someone else." He pulled a small box out from under the counter, looking at Seto. "I was going to save this one for last, but since you brought it up, here it is, Seto's soul card." He pushed the box across the counter to Seto who reached for it hesitantly. He opened the box and gasped softly, just staring.

"It requires great sacrifice to play the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but with the right cards and the right circumstances, it can become unstoppable. In its purity and perfection, it cannot be made to turn against its master. Like the Dark Magician, it is fiercely loyal to its one true master."

"You're… giving this to me?" Seto asked, stunned.

"Yes. It's your destiny." Solomon gave the brunette a knowing smile.

"I don't believe in destiny," Seto answered automatically, and as Seth protested that he was being rude, he quickly added, "Thank you you for your generosity."

"Do me, do me!" Joey cried excitedly, and Grandpa Moto started to laugh. Seto and Yugi followed suit, amused by Joey's impatient eagerness.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Joey, it's Ryou."

"Oh, hey man, how are you? We missed you at the Game Shop yesterday, you should have come. You'll never guess who—"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Joey, but I'm calling about something really important."

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," Joey said, starting to get worried. He tucked his phone between his head and his shoulder as he worked on restringing his guitar. He still couldn't believe that he'd broken the D-string. Was he really that clumsy, or was it really that worn out?

"Look, last week, someone… I mean, Seto…" Ryou stammered, struggling with the words.

"When Seto came to pick up his little brother, he was late, even though he'd been running for a while." That was Marik's voice, speaking calmly in his heavily accented Japanese. "We think that someone tried to rape him, and that it wasn't the first time."

"Wow." Joey's fingers fumbled with the string as he heard the news, undoing all that he'd just done on his guitar. Now he had to start over. "That's a heavy accusation, but why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be calling the police or somethin'?"

"Seto said that he couldn't remember anything of the attack, so he didn't want to call the police," Ryou answered with a sigh. "The memory is probably blocked from trauma. I'm calling _you_ because when I asked him if someone had hurt him, he answered, 'No, not this time.' A little later, when I tried to ask him what he meant by that, he asked me if I had been talking to you recently, so I thought you might know something."

"We just want to help him as best we can," Marik added.

Joey was silent for too long, and he knew it. He just didn't know how to answer. He was a terrible liar, and Ryou was like a human lie detector. The only one who could hope to pass a lie by him was Seto. At last, he sighed heavily into the phone.

"I promised I wouldn't say anything," he began, hoping that they didn't try to wheedle any information out of him. He still wasn't sure how much they knew or had caught onto. "Do you remember that day that Seto was absent from school because he was sick, and we went to your house and played that crazy Shadow Game and all that?"

"Of course." Ryou would never forget it. "I knew that he wasn't sick, but I didn't know…"

"Yeah, he was hurt pretty badly the night before, worse than I've ever seen anyone before in person. That… that was what he was referring to." It wasn't exactly a lie: Seto had briefly described his last encounter with Gozaburo to Joey, actually using the word rape to explain what had happened.

"Oh god, I knew it, I knew this had happened," Ryou said, growing audibly distressed. "That's why he hates being touched now. That's why he always keeps his distance and…" Joey could hear him start to sob, and Marik start to comfort him. A twinge of guilt made him wince.

"Please don't tell him that I told you," Joey pleaded. "He'd never trust me again if he knew."

"He all-but told me himself," Ryou pointed out, sniffling. "You just confirmed it for me. No, I won't tell him that you said anything, Joey." He could imagine all too clearly Seto fighting back against his attacker with all his might, but being overpowered, he was rendered helpless and left at the other's mercy.

"Thanks, man." Joey sighed in relief, the pressure of the secret easing. Hopefully, Ryou could help. After all, he'd been Seto's friend longer than anybody else. Who was better suited than Ryou to confront him about his most painful secret? No, it wasn't the full truth, but this was the second-best scenario, maybe even the best possible outcome, because he could get the emotional support he needed without admitting to the full shame of his former situation. "Are you gonna… confront him about it?" Joey asked after a moment.

"I-I don't know yet. I still need to think it all through. I'll let you know when I plan on doing so, though."

"Okay, thanks. And pal, cheer up a little. Seto's a fighter, he'll turn out alright in the end. **Just you wait**."

* * *

"I don't trust that Noah creep," Joey muttered as they approached the new attraction at KaibaLand.

"Hey, I'm with you on that," Seto replied, making Yugi roll his eyes.

"Can you two please stop that? Noah was very generous to allow us to come in and try it out." Yugi seemed to believe that Noah had been genuinely kind, yet Yami was on his guard, aware that his hikari was still incredibly naive. "I just wish that Anzu and Ryou and Marik could have come with us."

"Why couldn't Anzu come again?"

"Today's the first day of her new job," Yugi explained.

"I thought she worked at Burger World."

"She got fired because they found out she was underage," Yugi admitted. "You said that Ryou and Marik wanted to stay home again?"

"Yeah, you know them," Seto said unconcernedly. "Ryou hates big crowds like these, and Marik goes anywhere Ryou goes."

"Well, that's their loss," Joey said, recovering his usual upbeat tone. "Noah may be a creep, but we can still have fun!"

* * *

"Death-T?" Yugi read aloud, shivering a little. "Seto, you're sure you don't know anything about this place?"

"Quite sure," Seto answered, tense with suspicion as he looked around. "KaibaCorp is extremely compartmentalized, and some projects are kept top secret, for whatever reason." He knew why: because Noah Kaiba was a thieving bastard who claimed ownership of what others had worked hard to create. They passed through the doors and were surprised almost immediately.

"Anzu? What are you doing here?" Yugi exclaimed, looking flustered. Anzu looked equally flustered.

"I _work_ here," she answered with a huff. "What are _you_ three doing here?"

"Noah Kaiba stopped by the Game Shop on Monday and invited us to come test it," Yugi explained. "That's why I called and asked you if you had plans for Saturday: I—we—wanted you to come with us."

"I'm here to explain the rules to you all, so listen up!" she snapped, remembering that she was at work and had duties to complete. She tried to put aside the fact that she'd hoped Yugi had called her to ask her out on a date. She proceeded to explain the game, which seemed like a twist on laser tag, but with a more condensed playing field that was more maze-like. The only rule that truly surprised them was that if they lost, they couldn't continue, but had to leave.

"Death-T has five levels: Death T-1, Death T-2, Death T-3, Death T-4, and Death T-5. Completing all five is supposed to be impossible, so you probably won't make it past Death T-3."

"Nyeh, that's what you think!" Joey boasted, puffing out his chest a little as he crossed his arms. "I bet we'll make it all the way to the top!"

Anzu rolled her eyes and wished them luck—because they would need it, she said.

Joey, of course, was still as impatient and impulsive as ever, and nearly lost them Death T-1, despite Seto's warning for him to let their opponents come to them.

Noah watched them from his headquarters within Death-T, where all the security camera video feeds were before him, letting him watching their progress. He sat back in his chair with a disgruntled smirk as they cleared the first level.

"Well, they won't make it much further," he said as Miho stood behind him with her hand on his shoulder. "Although I would enjoy crushing one of them in Death T-5." Specifically, he would enjoy crushing Seto. That was the whole reason he'd invited those dorks to Death-T: he knew Seto was good, and he wanted to enjoy destroying him in this new battlefield.

Adina Kaiba sat quietly in a chair far behind him, wearing a pretty black dress that matched her braided hair perfectly. She was still in mourning for their mother, who'd died a month after Gozaburo. The coroner had declared the cause of death to be a broken heart, which was something that had stuck with the little girl ever since it had happened. She was having a hard time coping without their parents, especially now that Noah had seized power and let it go to his head.

Adina was still trying to distance herself from him, but she couldn't help that she loved her big brother, no matter how nuts he seemed. Yet, if you could die of a broken heart, then she didn't want to love anybody too much. She didn't want to lose someone close to her and be dropped into a pit of grief ever again.


	21. Challenger

"What the hell?!" Joey exclaimed, struggling against his restraints. All four of them had their hands locked in medieval stocks so that they couldn't escape the guillotines above them. "What kind of sadistic theme-park attraction is this?"

"Stop squirming like that," Seto ordered sharply. "It won't do you any good. Just let me think this through and we'll be free soon enough."

In front of them were four buttons, each with a unique label: 00, 11, 10, 01. All they knew for a fact was that three of the buttons would cause the blade to drop, and one button would free them.

"How can you act so calm?!" Joey shouted, continuing to babble in panic until Anzu managed to plant to plant a firm kick on his rear end.

"Calm down, you big baby," she scolded in irritation. "None of us will be able to figure this out if you don't shut up!"

"Do you have any ideas, Yugi?" Seto asked, staring down at the numbers, then up at the letters. He was starting to see a pattern.

"No, but you look like you might have a thought about this," Yugi answered nervously. Seto felt bad for him, the poor little pacifist trembling with fear.

"Maybe..." Seto was hesitant to say anything in case he was wrong. They only had one chance to get this right while keeping them all in one piece.

"Well, what are you thinking?" Yugi asked. Focusing on the puzzle itself helped him to maintain some degree of composure.

"The answer is eleven," Seto said, and he could feel Seth agreeing with him. He reached to push the button, but Anzu's voice stopped him.

"Wait! Don't touch that!" she cried. "How do you know? Explain it to us."

"Well, I've been working with computer programming a lot, so I'm used to seeing computer data bytes everywhere," Seto began, only to be interrupted.

"What's a data byte?" Joey asked, still looking nervous, but restraining himself from panicking so as to avoid another kick from Anzu, whose eagle eyes fixed him with a stern look.

"A bit is the smallest unit of computer data," Seto explained with a sigh. "It's composed of a single digit that has one of two values: zero or one. A byte is any set of multiple bits. These," he said, pointing down at the buttons and numbered buttons, "Are binomial bytes to me, not just numbers. And those," he pointed up at the letters, "Cumulatively, form a byte. Break the lines and circles down into pairs, and you have the same four binomial bytes: 10, 11, 00, 01. You could also look at it as the permutations of 0, 1, choose two, allowing for repeats, as a part of the branch of math called combinatorix—"

"Enough with the nerd talk, just get to the point already!" Joey shouted, making Seto scowl. "I don't see any numbers on the wall, so I still don't understand how you think eleven is the answer."

"You asked me to explain my process, didn't you?" Seto asked sourly.

"I get it now!" Yugi said, his eyes lighting up. "It's eleven because it's the only number distinguished from the others at all. I mean, the fact that it's pointing down makes me kinda nervous, but—"

"So are we certain that's the answer?" Anzu asked, unwilling to pay the price of an incorrect answer.

"Yep," Seto said, reaching down to push the button labeled "11." They all held their breath until they saw Seto be freed. Then they breathed heavy sighs of relief and followed suit.

"How did you figure that out so fast?" Anzu asked, but Seto just shrugged.

"I work for KaibaCorp, and they only hire smart people." He smirked as he turned to face the blond and added, "Sorry, Joey."

"Hey! I could get hired by KaibaCorp if I wanted to be!"

The others laughed good-naturedly, but Joey seemed stuck on that point.

"Not a chance, Joey," Seto taunted with a smirk. "Unless you're applying to be a janitor there."

"Alright, that's it!" Joey shouted, pulling an unsuspecting Seto into a headlock. Seto was only in it for a few moments though before he elbowed Joey in the ribs, causing the blond to wince. Seto seized Joey by his shirt and threw him to the floor so that he landed on his back.

Seto leaned forward, his eyes glinting as he smiled and said, "Remember, Joey, I could still beat you in a fight if I wanted to."

"That's what you think!" Joey grabbed Seto by the shoulders and pulled hard enough to unbalance the brunette, who toppled forward and landed on Joey. He grunted from the force of the impact and Seto's fist caught him in a light blow to the side.

"You knucklehead. Next time, think before you act."

"Alright, you two, break it up," Anzu said at last, exasperated with them. "Enough horseplay. I wanna get out of here with my head on my shoulders, thank you very much, but it seems like the only way we're getting out of here is to keep moving forward." Seto moved off of Joey, getting to his feet, then offering Joey a hand to help him up.

"Onward to Death T-3."

* * *

Blocks were falling from the ceiling and they were struggling to keep up with staying out of the way. There was a door-sized hole in the wall higher up and the floor was covered in a blue and yellow checked pattern.

"Have any of you figured it out yet?" Anzu called as she crouched on a block next to the wall, anxiously watching the ceiling above her head.

"There's _something_ there," Yugi muttered as Joey pulled him up onto the block with him.

"There's _definitely_ a pattern here," Seto said as he stood on a block in the corner. "I just… can't pick it out yet." He was so busy analyzing the patterns that he didn't notice that one was about to fall on top of him.

"Seto, look out!" Joey shouted, alerting him just in time. Seto side-stepped, ducking his head. It was a close call, but he was fine.

 _I've seen this before_ , Seth said broodingly. _I know I have._

"Oh, I'm an idiot!" Seto exclaimed suddenly, bonking his forehead with the heel of his hand. "It's a chess board!" It all started to come together in his mind. He'd been tracking the way the blocks were falling, so now he had to put pieces to the blocks. Once he did that, he could predict where they were going to fall.

"A chess board?" Joey repeated, looking confused.

"Seto, keep your head up!" Yugi called, concerned for the brunette, who didn't seem to hold any concern for himself.

"Anzu, move to B7!" Seto called from his perch as he hauled himself up a neighboring block before the next one fell on top of him.

"What?"

Seto sighed, remembering that not everybody knew chess grids by memory the way he did. "Towards this side!" he clarified. "Yugi, you too. You're about to be squashed."

Yugi looked up, and even though a block wasn't falling on him yet, he decided to take Seto's word for it.

"How the heck are ya' doin' that?" Joey asked, astounded, as he helped Yugi onto a taller stack of blocks.

"It's chess," was Seto's almost humble answer. "All I had to do was figure out where the pieces were, which side they'd come from, and where they were going."

"Ugh," Anzu groaned, putting a hand to the side of her head. "I knew you had a big brain, Seto, but I had no idea that just _trying_ to think the way you do would give me a headache."

"Watch out, Joey!" Seto called, continuing to climb. "You have to keep moving."

Seto was ahead of the others, closing in on the hole nearer the ceiling. Once he was up there, he could guide his friends to join him without being distracted by his own safety.

"I'm almost there," he called down to them. Once he'd hauled himself up into the tunnel, he turned around with every intent of calling out to them, but saw that a wall had closed him off from the room where his friends remained. "Hey, what is this!" He banged his fist against the metal-plated wall. "Let me out!"

 _That's not going to work, genius_ , Seth said at last.

 _Are they going to be alright?_ Seto asked worriedly, filled with a fear like nothing he'd felt before. He was always careful to keep Mokuba safe, so he'd never been in any real danger before. But now his friends _were_ in real danger, and he didn't put anything past Noah Kaiba at this point.

 _"Let me check."_ Seth's spirit disappeared behind the metal-plated door for several moments. When he came back, Seto was tense. _"They're fine, for now. The blocks stopped falling and an exit opened, but I can't know where they're going."_

"As long as they're okay, I guess I can stop worrying," Seto muttered, turning around to look down the dim tunnel. There was a single sign on the wall proclaiming: "Death T-4" with an arrow pointing in the direction of the far exit. There was a light at the end of the tunnel.

"I don't really have a choice but to continue, do I?" Seto said with a sigh. He felt a cool draft of air as Seth put a ghostly arm around his shoulders.

 _"Don't worry, I won't let him do you any harm,"_ Seth assured before letting his visible image dissipate. Seto just nodded and moved forward. When he reached the end of the tunnel, he found himself emerging into an arena with bleachers stuffed full of people. For a moment, he froze. This was like a nightmare to him. While Seto had always striven for excellence, he'd also striven to keep himself out of the spotlight as much as possible. Yet, he still craved recognition for his accomplishments. It was a complicated dynamic that he didn't have the time to figure out with everything else going on in his life.

In the very center of the arena stood a little girl in front of a glass box. She was wearing a frilly black dress and her hair was tied back in a pair of pigtails, but there was something achingly familiar about the lilac tinge of her grey eyes.

 _Why does she look like she could be Mokuba's twin?_ Seth asked, confused.

 _Don't ask me, I don't have a clue who she is,_ Seto responded with all the nonchalance of a verbal shrug.

"Welcome to Death T-4!" she said, spreading her arms as the crowd cheered. "My big brother warned me that a challenger would probably be coming through today."

"Your brother?" Seto repeated, starting to put the pieces together. "You must be Noah Kaiba's little sister, then."

"My name is Adina Kaiba, and you can only advance to Death T-5 if you can beat me in a game of Capsule Monsters!"

"What happens if I can't?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the precocious child.

"Whoever loses shall be subjected to a penalty game of my brother's creation: the experience of death!" she announced, earning another cheer from the crowd.

 _"This is ridiculous; she's just a child. She's far too young to be involved in something so morbid."_ Seth seemed to be truly revolted by her involvement in this "amusement park."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Seto smiled at her confidently. While he didn't have any capsule monsters of his own, he'd played before with Yugi and he knew the rules of the game well enough.

 _"Let me help you,"_ Seth said as Seto followed Adina into the glass box. _"She's being corrupted by the influence of her brother, but she's not too far gone. Allow me to aid you, and we can save her soul."_

 _Alright_ , Seto conceded, trying not to sound so terribly reluctant about it. Seth was right: she _was_ just a child, and if Seto could help keep her from rotting like her brother by allowing Seth to play with him, then he was more than willing to allow it. Seto wasn't above hating someone with all of his being, but he acknowledged souls to be very valuable things indeed (now that he believed in them, that is). Corrupting a soul was equivalent to taking a life, and allowing it was equivalent to causing it. That's how Seto saw the world, and he didn't plan on changing his mind about that. As he and Seth merged, he felt a sensation of unity and wholeness come over him, something that he couldn't explain unless Seth's words—that Seto was his reincarnation—were true.

"Game on!"

The table used some of Seto's holographic technology, and that irked him a bit, causing Seth to remind him to stay focused.

Meanwhile, Anzu, Joey, and Yugi were watching the game of CapMon on a screen while they sat inside a prison cell somewhere beneath the arena.

"Come on, Seto! Beat that little brat! Yeah!" Joey cheered loudly.

"Pipe down, or you're not allowed to watch it at all!" The security guard watching over them seemed cross, but then again, who could blame him? At the moment, he was a glorified babysitter for some rowdy teenagers.

"Do you really think that Seto can beat Noah Kaiba in Death T-5?" Anzu asked Yugi, concern apparent in her azure eyes.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Yugi answered with a sigh. "For now, he just has to beat Adina so that we can go free. Then we can support him in his duel with Kaiba."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'll admit, my Death-T research was spotty at best. If you ask me what really happened, I would only be able to give you some general info and no details. I hope that makes this AU retelling of the Death-T arc interesting instead of making me sound utterly ignorant. ^_^' As for details I don't give, like how Death T-1 happened, or how they got into the guillotines in the first place, assume that whatever's canon carries over to this.


	22. Crushed

Adina and Seto each started with six capsule monsters, hers higher leveled than his. Seto figured that was part of the challenge, since it greatly reduced your chances of winning by luck rather than through skill. He approached it like it was a puzzle, Seth working with him and helping him to keep a clear mind. There was no need for panic, after all, even after she claimed his monsters one at a time and the crowd murmured its doubts a bit too loudly. Seto knew what he was doing. He was in control of this game, even though nobody else could tell. One monster left, and he used it to take out all of hers in one fell blow. The crowd gasped in awe and cheered for Seto as he stood, victorious, and left the glass box. He exited through the door behind Amane and started down the runway that lead to an archway with a plaque above it proclaiming "Death T-5."

Then he heard Noah's voice over the loudspeaker and whirled around. Kaiba's face was large on the big screen that had magnified the gameboard for the audience.

"You've failed me, Adina," he glowered, his sister cringing in her seat. "Time for the penalty game." That was all he said before his image disappeared and monstrously grotesque holograms filled glass chamber. Adina screamed and Seto darted forward, daring to enter it again. Once he was inside, he realized why Adina was screaming: it wasn't just the sight of the monsters, but the sounds of their snarls and their chomping jaws and wild screeches as they closed in on the terrified child. Seto lifted Adina into his arms and carried her out as quickly as he could. The audience cheered again as Seto emerged with Adina, stirred by the noble gesture. He set her down after taking several steps, making sure that she was standing steadily before he released her.

"Are you alright?" he asked with concern.

"Y-Yeah," she murmured, looking down. Her eyes flicked up to his face and she added, "Thank you for getting me out." She stuck out her hand to him and he shook it politely. "Thank you for the match. You're really good at Capsule Monsters," she mumbled, still looking rather shaken up. "I have to go." And with that, she hopped away and out of sight, disappearing to who knew where.

 _He did that to his own little sister,_ Seth said in horror as Seto continued towards the final level of this hellish place.

 _That's one of the many reasons why I hate him,_ Seto answered bitterly. He traveled down another long, dim hallway towards a light at the far end. _I can't wait to get out of here._

 _We need to teach him a lesson, first, though,_ Seth said darkly. _He needs to learn that he can't just play with people's lives like this, like it's all just a game._

* * *

"Well, gentlemen," Noah said as he addressed the Big Five. "It looks like your efforts were not enough to stop him from reaching the final level. I'm rather disappointed in you, but we'll discuss this later, after I finish him off." He stood from his chair and left the nerve center for the entire Death-T attraction. He had a pest to exterminate.

* * *

In a matter of minutes, Seto and Noah were glaring at each other across the Duel Arena in an even larger stadium than where he'd faced Adina.

"This ends here," Seto asserted as he shuffled his deck and set it down to the right-hand side.

"I agree." Noah must have been wearing colored contacts, because his eyes were now a disturbing yellow shade that made his eyes look vaguely reptilian. "After all, this is the final stage, and I am the final boss, not to mention _your_ boss." Noah chuckled as Seto scowled at him.

"Enough talk. It's time to duel!" The crowd went crazy over Seto's words, and the two teenagers drew their starting hands.

 _You need to calm down, Seto,_ Seth cautioned.

 _I'm fine,_ Seto growled mentally.

_You're not fine. You're filled with rage and hatred, and—_

_Can you blame me?_ Seto snapped angrily, proving Seth's point that he was in a dangerous mood. _After everything he and his father have done to me, am I supposed to be his best friend?_

 _You know that's not what I'm saying,_ Seth said sternly. _I don't want you to lose focus or do something impulsive because you're distracted by your emotions. Let us fight this duel together. It will ensure our success._ Seto could already feel the spirit's cool, serious presence creeping up to share control and consciousness with Seto, leaving him with little choice in the matter.

 _You always have a choice,_ Seth said quietly, Seto detecting a faint note of sadness in his voice. _Never think that I will force you to do anything or disobey your wishes unless you're not in your right mind._

Seto just answered with quiet assent, accepting the chill of calm that flooded him as Seth straightened up, lifting his chin a little as he faced their opponent with serene self-confidence.

"Hey, Seto!" Joey's voice made Seth look off to his left, where he saw Yugi, Joey, and Anzu standing just inside the arena, held back from approaching the duelists by a pair of security guards.

"Beat that Noah creep, Seto!" Joey shouted, cheering on his friend with complete disregard for those in the grandstands who might prefer Noah to win.

Seth sighed in relief when he saw that their friends were alright. If anything had happened to them because of all this _—_ Seto's antagonism towards Noah, Noah's grudge against him, their mutual desire for revenge _—_ he would feel horrible.

Only a couple of turns into the duel, it became apparent to anyone with half a brain that they had some kind of personal history, that this wasn't their first time encountering each other.

"I guess when you're not as rich as me, it's harder to get good cards," Noah mocked, his arrogance grating on Seto's patience, which was wearing thin.

"A _true_ duelist would know that having good cards is only a small part of the game." Seth's words made Noah scowl as he laid a card face-down. "A _true_ duelist also knows better than to underestimate his opponent. You wouldn't want to make that mistake twice, would you?" Seth allowed himself a small smile as Noah reacted with visceral rage to his comment. "Not after what happened last time."

While Joey kept shouting encouragement to Seth, Anzu turned to Yugi with a worried expression.

"Last time?" she whispered. "What's he talking about?"

Yugi shrugged; he had no answer for her. As she turned back to watching the duel, Yugi studied his friend carefully. He could tell that there was something different about him, and he couldn't help but remember Seth. _He must be helping him with the duel,_ he decided. _Just like you help me with mine, Pharaoh._

 _Indeed,_ Yami answered. _Seth is wise and powerful, I can sense it, but we need not fear him. He proved himself our ally when we met him, and the evil I sense in this room comes from a different source._ Yami gently turned Yugi's attention toward Seth's opponent, and Yugi mentally nodded in acknowledgment. After all, anybody who conceived of something like Death-T had to be messed up. He looked back at Seth, studying him out of curiosity.

He seemed calmer and less agitated than Seto's usual self. There was a noble pride in his posture and a frostiness in his voice each time he rejected one of Noah's attempts to goad him into anger. His facade did slip for one moment, revealing ever so briefly a deep rage unlike anything Yugi had ever seen. Seth quickly regained his composure, resuming the stern expression he'd worn previously.

"Stay focused, Seto!" Yugi called in encouragement. "Don't let him mess with your head!"

Six or seven turns in, and they seemed to be evenly matched. There was no clear victor as of yet, since both duelists were impressing the audience with strategies and card combinations that they'd never seen before.

Seth used Ring of Defense and Ring of Destruction together masterfully, even as Noah exhibited some of his own trademark moves. Seto had studied Noah's dueling strategies on the side while he'd been working on making KaibaCorp's card database compatible with and accessible to the Duel Arena holographic projection software. Noah was using his spirit deck, doing his best to replenish his life-points even as Seth fought to beat him down and prevent him from doing so. At each strategic turning point, Noah would attempt a big move, only to have Seth undermine and undo his work, thereby protecting his own monsters and life-points. Noah wasn't world champion for nothing, though, and more than once he was able to save himself from the prospect of certain defeat.

The whole stadium could feel the tension when Noah, unable to restore his life points any longer, took out Seth's remaining monsters, which took a decent chunk out of his life-points. It looked like the challenger might lose, yet he'd earned the support of many in the audience and they didn't _want_ to see him lose. Seth had good cards in his hand, cards that could work together to form a devastating result for this duel, but he was missing the final, necessary piece he needed to make this work.

 _Come on,_ Seto wished hard as he and Seth placed his fingers on top of his deck. _Heart of the cards, don't fail me now..._ He drew his card. One look at it, and he couldn't help but smile widely.

"Looks like we've reached the end, Noah!" Seth smirked as he felt his chest swell with pride. "I've enjoyed this duel, but as they say, nothing lasts forever. Be prepared to lose." Seto still wished to shout some choicer words at the other teen, but Seth held him back from doing so, just as he'd been doing for the entirety of the duel.

"Don't be so sure! I'm the world champion, and don't you forget it!"

"You won't be champion for much longer!" Seth threw down his new card. "I summon Lord of Dragons, in attack mode!" The holographic lord appeared in his full majesty as Seth reached for his hand and lay down a magic card. "And, I equip him with Flute of Summoning Dragon, allowing me to summon any two dragons from my hand or deck without making a sacrifice!"

Noah's overconfident grin began to fade from his face as Joey shouted at Seth, "Yeah, now ya got 'im! Take 'im out!"

"And I choose my Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" It was a glorious moment as the pair of magnificent Blue-Eyes White Dragons appeared in holographic form, stretching their long necks and letting out a pair of fierce cries. Seth felt a shiver of exhilaration akin to what he'd felt thousands of years ago when he would summon the real Blue-Eyes. The crowd went crazy at the appearance of the two Blue-Eyes. All four of them had dropped off of pubic radar, and for years, nobody but the owners themselves had known where any of the four Blue-Eyes White Dragons were or who owned them. Even so, nobody had known where all of them were.

Joey's jaw dropped while Yugi gasped, dumbstruck.

"Isn't that a really rare card?" Anzu asked. Yugi nodded. "Then how does he have two of them?"

"Grandpa gave him one, but I don't know about the other," Yugi answered, still staring up at Seth and the holograms.

Seth savored the look of fear and panic on Noah's face. He didn't like him anymore than Seto did, he just had his anger under control.

"Now, Blue-Eyes, white lightning attack!"

The dragons sprang into action to do their master's bidding, taking out the two monsters on Noah's side of the field and shrinking his remaining life-points. At Seth's command, the Lord of Dragons dealt one final blow to Noah's life-points before Seth played a magic card that restored some of his own life-points. Another attack like that, and he'd be finished.

Noah scowled in disdain, but deep down, he was furious. He drew a card from his deck and was frustrated that he didn't have any monsters in his hand or any cards that would be helpful in this situation. How had this happened? It was like all of the cards he needed had been purposefully put on the bottom of his deck so that he'd never get to them. He laid two cards face-down with a sly grin before ending his turn.

 _Those cards are a bluff,_ Seto said triumphantly. _This duel is ours._

 _What makes you so sure?_ Seth asked.

_Did you see his face when he drew his card? He was disappointed, and though it didn't show, he didn't look excited by the card either. He only looked devious once he had several moments to think about it._

"Blue-Eyes, wipe out his remaining life-points with white lightning attack!" Seth commanded confidently. Seto had been right; Noah's face-down cards _were_ a bluff and as such were entirely incapable of helping him. Otherwise, he would have activated them when Seth attacked him.

The crowd roared with approval and amazement. The Duel Monsters World Champion had been defeated and replaced, and by the bearer of the Blue-Eyes no less. They were all excited by the change in power, all curious about where the Blue-Eyes had come from. They were no concern of Seth's.

Noah stood still, stunned as he stared into space. He'd lost. He'd actually lost to that poor, pathetic urchin who, not that long ago, had all but been a sex slave to Gozaburo Kaiba. He couldn't understand it, not one bit. Growling, he picked up the next card on the top of his deck, just to see what he would have gotten. It was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon he'd gotten from that little blond-haired girl. Looks like he went to all that trouble for nothing. In his frustration, he tore his card in half.

"I told you before, Noah," Seth said grimly, noting Noah's actions. "You will never be a true success until you learn to respect your cards." Not even the weakest card in the game deserved to be torn in half.

"Screw you!" Noah shouted as he threw the card pieces on the ground, an ingracious loser if ever there was one. "I was a success before you came along!"

"You became a success the same way your father did: by extorting those who serve you and placing no value whatsoever on the lives of others. You need to learn a lesson, Noah Kaiba," Seth said darkly, Seto silently cheering him on. He wanted to see Noah suffer for his crimes. He wanted to see Noah suffer, period.

"Now you're going to make me suffer the experience of death, aren't you?" Noah asked, actually starting to look nervous. That was part of the rules for Death T-5, but Noah had never counted on being the one to lose.

"I think I have a better penalty game for you," Seth said with a small grin. He extended one arm, fingers splayed and palm towards Noah. Seto recognized the gesture, and couldn't help but feel smug satisfaction as he realized what was about to happen. "Mind Crush!"

Noah screamed in horror as his eyes went wide, tense for a few moments before his body went slack, leaning back in the chair as he stared blankly at the ceiling.

Seto breathed out a sigh of relief, then stood and descended from the Duel Arena. Just like that, he was relaxed again, no longer looking like he was carved of marble with a soul of ice. Yugi and company rushed towards him with awe and congratulations, which Seto accepted a little stiffly, but gratefully.

"How did you get _two_ Blue-Eyes White Dragons?" Joey asked in shock.

"One of them is from Yugi's Grandpa, as you know," he answered. "Do you remember when I told you that I won a rare card in a chess game?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Anzu remarked.

"So, you won the other Blue-Eyes in that chess game?" Yugi asked. "Who was the game against anyways?"

Seto looked over at Noah, and the others followed his gaze.

"So, you beat the chess champion at chess, and you beat the Duel Monsters champion at Duel Monsters, and they just happened to be the same guy…" Anzu mused aloud. "That isn't just a coincidence."

"That makes _you_ the new Duel Monsters champion, doesn't it?" Yugi asked excitedly. "It _was_ an official duel, after all."

"I... guess so," Seto answered a little hesitantly. _I hope there's not too much publicity about this,_ he thought to himself _,_ but Seth heard anyways. As Joey and Yugi got excited about their friend's new title, Seto walked quietly over to where Adina, who'd been watching the duel, had reached her brother and started to cry. He joined her on the platform and she looked up, her eyes full of tears.

"He wasn't alway like this, you know," she said quietly, stifling her tears. "He used to be a good brother. My dad put a lot of pressure on him... but now he's gone, and so's Mom... Is he going to come back?" She looked so utterly pitiful as something struck Seto's mind: he might have single-handedly orphaned this little girl.

"Yes, he's going to come back," he assured as Seth fed him the words.

"What happened to him?" Adina sniffled, trying to put a brave face on things.

He still didn't understand the "Mind Crush" as well as Seth did. "Have you ever bitten into a shiny apple to find that the core is all rotten?"

She nodded.

"His heart is kind of like that right now. He needs to find the rotten pieces and throw them out before he can put his heart back together again. He'll wake up some day, but I don't know when. Are there people to take care of you in the meantime?" He asked, concerned for her well-being now that he'd incapacitated her only living family member. "If not, you can come stay with my brother and I." He wasn't sure if it was the wisest decision or even the safest place for her, but he owed her the offer. It was the least he could do.

"Yes, I'll be taken care of," she answered with a sniffle, much to Seto's relief. "The staff at the mansion have always been kind to me." She looked up at her brother, then started to sob again.

"Hey now, don't cry. He'll be alright," Seto said gently, starting to feel terrible. Adina turned towards him and threw her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. He was stiff for a moment, but as he gently held her in his arms, he kept repeating in his mind that children were safe, children meant no harm.

"D'aw," Anzu said, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "Seto's so cute with little kids."

"You think he's cute?" Yugi asked softly, but Anzu didn't hear. He considered this for a few moments, not really sure he liked that.

The three friends approached Seto and Adina, standing just below the terminal where Noah still sat in a catatonic state. When Seto had sufficiently comforted Adina so that she was no longer hysterical, he carefully passed her off to Anzu, who was more than happy to carry and comfort the little girl. Seto, meanwhile, picked up the torn Blue-Eyes card.

"Do you know where he got this card, Adina?" Seto asked. It must be stolen; that was the only decent explanation.

"America," she answered uncertainly from Anzu's arms. "Somewhere in California, I think. He mentioned the name of Hawkins."

"That must be Grandpa's friend!" Yugi exclaimed as he realized which card it was. "They were talking on the phone last night, and apparently he gave his Blue-Eyes to his granddaughter, but it was stolen from her a few days ago."

"Then we'll have to return it," Seto said resolutely, carefully putting the torn card pieces away with his own deck. "I don't know about you all, but I'm kind of wiped out after all the excitement. Maybe we could call Ryou and ask if it's okay to go visit him and Marik? Besides, Mokuba wanted to hear all about the new attraction. I'll definitely have quite a story to tell him."

"Mokuba?" Adina repeated, looking up at him suddenly. "You're Mokuba's brother?"

"Uh, yeah, when did you meet him?" Seto asked, wondering how it could have happened without him knowing about it.

"When you brought him to KC HQ on his birthday," Adina answered, smiling faintly. "We met on the empty floor where the old shooting range is. He said that his brother worked there but he had a meeting at the moment. We played until he had to leave."

"Huh, he never mentioned it," Seto muttered thoughtfully. "Are you sure that you're going to be alright?"

She nodded, looking a little hopeful. "I can wait for him. I believe in my big brother, and if you say that he'll wake up someday, then I trust you." She nodded to Anzu, and the teenager put the little girl down.

"Alright, let's go home," Seto said, starting to come down off the adrenaline high. Adina went over to him and gave him a quick hug first, though, making him blush a little.

"Is he really going to be a better person when he wakes up?" she asked.

"Yes, I promise." That was Seth speaking. Seth made promises much more easily than Seto.

"Then thank you." She went away, calling to a man that Seto realized he'd seen before: Roland. He'd overseen their chess game, and he'd seemed like a good man. Seto hoped he did a good job of protecting Adina, since Seto felt strangely responsible for her now.

"Alright, let's go."

"Make way!" Joey shouted as he forced a way for them through the crowd. "Certified genius and Duel Monsters World Champion coming through!"


	23. Reminisce

"You shoulda seen 'im!" Joey exclaimed that afternoon as they took turns narrating the events of Death-T to Ryou, Marik, Mokuba, and Amane. "His brain is like a computer!"

"I like to think that the human mind is actually more advanced and complex than any computer could ever be," Seto commented quietly to no one in particular.

"I may be good at puzzles, but Seto was faster than me this time around," Yugi conceded with a smile. Then he turned to Seto and said, "I look forward to our next real duel, Champion."

"I do as well," Seto answered with a smile.

"Does this mean that you're famous?" Mokuba asked, his eyes round.

"I sure hope not," Seto said, looking uncertain. "I guess we'll find out, though."

"You seemed to know Kaiba pretty well," Joey commented, looking suspicious as he remembered the way the two had interacted.

"I've run into him a few times in the past," Seto answered evasively. Mrs. Bakura glanced over at the teens from where she was preparing dinner in the kitchen. She was listening to the whole conversation, whether they realized it or not.

"But how?" Anzu asked. "He's not the kind of person you just see on the streets."

"Yeah, how did you challenge him to that chess game a few months back?" Yugi asked. Seto felt trapped, but he tried not to show it, so he started to reset the chess board that had been left on the coffee table, focusing on it to keep him calm.

"I was at KaibaCorp to ask about their hiring policies and see if they needed any computer nerds for their IT department," he said calmly, slowly, hoping that he sounded convincing. "I ran into him there, and he was incredibly rude, which I didn't take very kindly to. One insult led to another, and we decided to settle the matter with our wits instead of our fists. I happened to have heard rumors that he was one of the owners of the Blue-Eyes, so when he acted so confident that he would win, I challenged him to put it up as a bet. If I won, I got the card, and if he won, then I could never be employed at KaibaCorp. Those were the terms we agreed upon." It was partly true, and he felt bad for lying, but the alternative was unbearable.

"That's kinda risky, don't ya' think?" Joey observed.

"I won, didn't I?" Seto pointed out with a smile.

"True," Yugi murmured thoughtfully. Seto rotated the chess board another 180' so that the white pieces were on his side. He moved his pawn to D3. He look up at the others and smiled a little, saying, "Anyone up for chess?"

"Sure, I'll play you, Seto," Ryou said, speaking up for the first time in a while. He settled himself across the board from Seto with a smile. "Let's see if I can't give you a run for your money."

As they played chess, the others talked about more mundane things. Since it was summer and they didn't see each other as often as during the school year, they had some catching up to do. Anzu asked Marik if he planned on attending Domino High in the fall, and he answered that if he could make more progress with learning to read Japanese, he would be. Ryou asked Anzu if she'd found a dance studio where she could take lessons yet, which she answered with a regretful negative.

"Dance lessons are just too expensive," she sighed. "And now I suppose I ought to find a new job, since working at KaibaLand turned out to be a nightmare." She made a face as she recalled the repulsive location.

"I'm sure there are other things you could do there that don't involve a sadistic attraction that could potentially kill its participants," Seto said cheekily, glancing up at her as she threw him an annoyed look.

"No thanks. I think I'm done with KaibaCorp, at least as soon as I find another place to work," she retorted. "I don't understand how you can still work there after all of this."

"It's quite simple, actually," Seto answered, moving his knight to corner Ryou's pawn. In his mind, though, his knight was Critias from the Shadow Game. "It pays well and I'm doing something that I not only enjoy, but something I'm good at."

"What _are_ you working on?" Joey asked curiously. "I keep forgetting to ask."

Seto froze while in the process of moving his bishop. Dare he tell them? Noah Kaiba was catatonic, functionally brain-dead. Besides, if he swore them all to secrecy, it would never get back to Noah that he'd told.

"Seto?" Marik asked, looking worried.

"It's a secret, so you have to promise not to tell anybody, okay?" He looked around at all of them and received nods around the circle, accompanied by confused expressions. He moved his bishop, Priest Seth, across the board.

"You know Duke Devlin, right?" he asked.

"I know of him, and I've seen him around school, but I don't know him that well," Yugi answered.

"Well, he and I invented the Duel Arena," Seto said quietly. "We'd been working on it since school let out, and we finished beta testing it earlier this month."

"But on the news they said that Noah creep invented it," Joey protested suspiciously. Seto just shrugged.

"It's a publicity stunt. We signed contracts agreeing to give him the rights to claim being its creator, but we still get the monetary compensation that's due us." That was a lie, but if it helped them keep their mouths shut about it, then he didn't feel that bad about it. "Just don't tell anyone, because if word of it gets out, that would hurt the company's image, which could put me out of a job."

"How did you produce it that fast?" Anzu asked in awe.

"When you put two geniuses together, great things happen," Seto said a little smugly, causing Joey to grin and spring out of his chair.

"That's my pal!" he boasted, throwing a careless arm around Seto affectionately just as he went to move his queen, Kisara. The gesture had been a surprise to the brunette, though, prompting him to lash out without thinking. It wasn't violent and he didn't hit him that hard, but it was enough to start another playful wrestling match between the two of them.

"Wait, hold on a moment," he told Joey, causing the blond to pause so that Seto could move his queen.

"Checkmate," he said, causing Ryou to blink in surprise. "Good game," he said, shaking hands with Ryou briefly before Joey pulled him back to the bout.

Yugi started chuckling as he looked on at his two pugnacious friends. "Can you believe how far we've all come?" he asked, turning to Anzu with a happy light in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at us." He spread his arms as he gestured to the six of them: Joey and Seto wrestling on the floor, Ryou sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee-table as he tried to decipher how he'd lost in less than ten turns, Marik sitting curled up on the chair, himself and Anzu side by side on the couch. "We've all gotten so close in the last several months. Isn't it great?" He seemed so excited that Joey and Seto released each other to look up at him curiously. "Like you two," Yugi said, gesturing to the two tallest teens in the group. "You used to hate each other. Joey used to be a bully and a rebel, but now he's our friend, and he doesn't break so many rules anymore." Joey blushed with embarrassment as Yugi grinned at him proudly. "And Seto, you used to be antisocial—"

"Asocial, not antisocial," Seto corrected uncomfortably, the distinction important to him. "I was never a sociopath."

"Well, you know what I mean," Yugi continued, unbothered by Seto's interruption. "We never saw you anywhere but school because you were always too busy working, even at lunch-time. We couldn't get you to talk about yourself at all, but now we're good friends, and you two have been close ever since you stood up to Coach Trudge together."

Joey and Seto exchanged an awkward glance. Right, that was why they were friends now. No other reason, no other reason at all. And they weren't close as anything other than friends, never had been. Nope. Definitely not. Yet, they both recalled what had happened a week after Joey first discovered Seto's secret, when Joey could still act like a jerk if he wasn't careful and Seto was still bitter about his secret being discovered.

~(*)~

_"So, your clients…" Joey was disturbingly curious about Seto's profession._

_"What about them?" Seto asked, irked, as he put his textbooks in his backpack._

_"Are they just women?" Seto clearly wasn't going to offer any information, so Joey decided to be direct._

_"Nope."_

_Joey thought about that for a few moments, then asked, "What does it feel like to—"_

_"To kiss a man?" Seto finished his question easily and let out a cold laugh. He was sick of these perverted, insensitive questions, and he decided that he was done talking about it. He left his backpack on the bed and turned around, grabbing Joey by the hair and yanking him into a fierce kiss that made the blond moan. Perhaps Seto held it for too long, perhaps he made it too good, perhaps he shouldn't have used his tongue. But then again, perhaps Joey hadn't realized how much he'd enjoy it._

_"That's what it feels like," Seto declared, releasing Joey and turning around to pick up his backpack. Joey began to grin slyly._

_"Actually, I was going to ask, what's it feel like to fuck a man?"_

_Seto turned around and smacked him hard in the face. "Go fuck one yourself, Wheeler." Then he marched out of the motel room. Joey just lay there for a few moments, stunned._

_"Wow," he breathed out, feeling more than a little starstruck._

_The following Monday, Joey apologized to Seto before class in as discrete a way as he possibly could._

_"I'm sorry about what happened on Friday," he said in a low voice. "I was way outta line, and it won't happen again. Honest, it won't."_

_Seto breathed deeply, then nodded without looking up from his book. "Don't mention it," he muttered, and they both dropped the subject. It never came up between them again._

~(*)~

"And Marik," Yugi resumed, smiling at the surprised Egyptian who hadn't really expected to be mentioned. "I know you haven't been here very long, and we're still getting to know you better, but I want you to know that we're all happy you're here." Yugi beamed, and Marik's face softened into a hopeful smile. "And I hope you consider us all your friends as much as we consider you one of ours. Friends support each other no matter what, so if you're ever in trouble, I hope you never hesitate to ask us for help."

"Thank you, Yugi," Marik replied warmly as Ryou shifted away from the coffee-table and leaned his back against the couch while staying seated on the floor, now sitting right by Marik. "That's very kind of you to say."

"And I mean it, too," Yugi insisted, hoping that Marik understood that his words were entirely sincere. Ryou glanced up at Marik, smiling reassuringly as Marik returned his gaze fondly, both of them remembering how uncomfortable and lonely Marik had felt when he'd first come to Domino.

~(*)~

_Marik sat huddled on the bathroom floor as he tried to smother the sounds of his tears. He felt so alone, and he didn't know what to do about it. He was a stranger in a strange land, and this was a whole new world for him. Even though it was frightening and different, he still wanted to be a part of it. He just didn't know how._

_"Marik? Are you alright?" Ryou's quiet, concerned voice spoke hesitant Egyptian Arabic into the darkness as he pushed the bathroom door open and poked his head in. It was after ten at night and he'd gotten out of bed to go downstairs and get a drink of water, but on his way back, he'd heard Marik's crying as he passed the bathroom._

_"I'm not alright, Ryou," Marik answered dismally, the other teen appreciating his honesty. Ryou stepped in and plucked a few tissues from the box of Kleenex, handing them to the other boy as he sat beside him._

_"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" he asked softly after Marik blew his nose and dried his cheeks and eyes._

_"I'm scared." His voice broke, and he swallowed hard before continuing. "I feel so alone here, and everything is so different. I miss my brother and sister. I miss my homeland. Even though I wasn't always happy there, at least I understood it. At least it made sense. I don't… I don't understand this place at all." He pressed a clean tissue to his eyes again as they started tearing up once more. Ryou pulled Marik into a warm hug, sympathy swelling his chest as he pushed down the urge to cry on Marik's behalf._

_"You'll see them again, I promise," he whispered, trying to comfort him. He continued in Arabic, interspersing it with Japanese when he needed to, simply because he lacked the Arabic vocabulary to express everything he needed to say. "It's not goodbye forever, just goodbye for a little while. My father says that once they get everything figured out back in Egypt, they'll be able to join you here, and my father wouldn't just say that to make you feel better. He means it."_

_"Your father is a good man," Marik said softly, smiling a little as tears slipped down his cheeks. Ryou handed him a few more tissues before continuing._

_"In the meantime, we can call them on the phone every week and you can talk to them so that you don't feel so sad while you're apart. It's okay to miss them, but I still hope you learn to like it here." He paused, then asked, "Does that make sense?" He was still unsure about some of his Arabic._

_Marik looked up at him with a somewhat puzzled expression, but nodded. "I think I understood most of that," he said carefully, and Ryou smiled a bit, pleased to hear it._

_"Do you feel better now?" Ryou asked hopefully._

_"Only a little," Marik admitted. "I'm grateful to your father and the others for saving us and for taking me here so that I could be healed"—Marik was still on the mend from a severe respiratory infection, for which he'd been treated at the hospital in Tokyo when he first arrived in Japan—"But being here is still… overwhelming."_

_"Then we'll take it one step at a time, okay?" Ryou said with a smile, taking Marik's hand in his own. "You don't have to feel alone, because I'll be your friend. My friends will be your friends too, when the time comes for you to meet them. They're all really nice, and I think you'll like them."_

_"Will they like me?" Marik asked nervously. He'd never had to worry about what other people thought of him before, and he was unaccustomed to feeling insecure._

_"I'm sure they will," Ryou said with a confident smile. He pulled Marik close again, the two embracing for a long while until the Egyptian felt that he had recovered himself and that the urge to cry was past. When they finally parted, Ryou stood and helped his guest to stand as well. Before he could leave, though, Marik spoke up._

_"Ryou, back home, I'm used to sleeping with my siblings," he said suddenly. "It's still strange sleeping all alone in a big bed, and I'm not used to it. May I... sleep with you tonight?"_

_Ryou found his innocent request touching. How could he possibly say no to him? "Of course you can, Marik," Ryou answered with a smile, taking him by the hand and leading him to bed. "As long as you don't mind that I have to get up early to go to school."_

_"I don't mind."_

~(*)~

"Anzu," Yugi said, turning to her who sat beside him, "You told us about your dream of being a dancer in America. You'd never trusted anybody with that secret before, but now that you've told us, we can help you achieve it!" Yugi's cheeks looked a little pink as he gazed up at his best friend, and Seto didn't miss the significance of it. He exchanged a knowing look with Ryou, who seemed pleased to finally see some kind of requital for Anzu's advances. The pale-haired teen looked up, though, as Yugi called on him next.

"Ryou, you showed us the diorama you've been working on for so long."

Ryou blushed a little as he recalled their Monster World Shadow Game in detail. He hated thinking about it, and tried his best not to; thinking about it again now caused him to unconsciously finger the cord that suspended the artifact around his neck, the Millennium Ring lying hidden under his shirt. Only Marik knew that he still wore it; it was a valuable gift from his father, after all, and there was no safer place for it than on Ryou's person. He still regretted that he'd been incapable of stopping the evil spirit from possessing him and trying to hurt his friends, but he was eternally grateful that those same friends had helped him banish it forever while still preserving Ryou's life.

"You saved us by helping us defeat Zorc, and you sacrificed yourself to defeat the Evil Spirit. We can't thank you enough for that," Yugi continued, his broad smile making Ryou feel a little guilty, since he shouldn't have put them in danger in the first place.

"I'm just glad that he's gone for good," Ryou said with a sigh of relief. "I'm not eager to repeat that experience any time soon." Marik's hand went to Ryou's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze, and Ryou put his own hand over Marik's, caressing it appreciatively before Marik linked their hands.

"And thank you, Seth," Yugi said suddenly, addressing the Spirit of the Millennium Rod as he looked at Seto, making the brunette feel uncomfortable. But there was that look in Yugi's eye that told him that it was Yami, not Yugi, speaking. Besides, the inflection in his voice was different. "Your help was invaluable in that Shadow Game."

"You're most welcome, Pharaoh," Seth answered through Seto, the two ancient spirits recalling their first encounter over the diorama table.

~(*)~

_"So can we trust these guys?" Joey asked dubiously._

_Seto stared up at his other self uncertainly, and he simply stared back, lifting one eyebrow at him._

_"Well, Seto, do you trust me?"_

_"I don't even know your name."_

_"Seth." He tilted his head in a gesture that was both proud and archaic. "My name is Seth."_

_"And what's Big Yugi's name?" Joey asked._

_"I have been called many things over the centuries. Some have called me Yu-Gi-Oh, some have called me Pharaoh." Seth looked over at the one seated beside him, a sad curiosity in his gaze._

_"Yes, we can trust them," Yugi said, staring up at his own doppelganger with awe and respect._

~(*)~

In truth, Seth ached to tell his younger cousin his true identity and be reunited with him, but he knew that the time was not yet right. For now, though, being his comrade and friend was enough.

As Mokuba and Amane reentered the house, Seto watched them interact with Ryou's mother, remembering how she and Dr. Bakura had insisted on helping him, even when he was resistant, because they'd known that he needed it. Maybe he disliked that they knew the truth, but he was also immensely grateful for their discretion and their aid in taking care of both him and his little brother. As he also recalled Seth's help when Mokuba had announced that he'd kissed Amane—and his own mortification at the prospect of what followed—he decided that he owed Seth his thanks as well. Besides, Seth had healed him, protected him, guided him. Even when Seto was irritated and upset with him, Seth always remained patient and understanding, knowing that the teen needed to be allowed to express himself to someone, and that he had no discreeter confidante than Seth.

_Thank you, Seth._

_And thank you, Seto._

_For what?_

_For allowing me to live again, to know you and your brother, to be acquainted with your friends. If you'd chosen to reject me, we would all be in very real danger._

* * *

That night, as Seto and Mokuba walked home, Seto realized that today had been one of his best days to date. His haptephobia was less active than it normally was, he'd been happier than he had any right to expect, he'd gotten to defeat Noah Kaiba in a duel—in front of a crowd, no less. It wasn't just a good day; it was a great day, and Seto felt that he could be satisfied with it.

Seth wasn't about to burst his bubble, even as he sensed trouble brewing for them in the near future. Noah Kaiba wasn't gone from their lives, and he wasn't the only person Seto needed to watch out for. If he acquired fame, he'd have to be careful, for fame was a monster in and of itself. Their father was still alcoholic, Seto was still saving up to get a new apartment in a safer part of town, there was still some unknown party out there who'd assaulted Seto and had yet to be brought to justice. They weren't out of the woods yet. In fact, they were just about to encounter an even darker evil than what they'd seen so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Joey's totally questioning his sexuality now. XD
> 
> This is my version of a reminiscent clip-show for the end of Season Zero while simultaneously working in a friendship speech AND giving you added "canon" for past events in the story AND incorporating a nod to Puppyshipping. Is the Puppyshipping going to go anywhere? That depends. ;)
> 
> See you all in Season One! If you want me to start posting Season One on here before the story is finished, say so in a comment! If you are content to wait for me to finish Season One before I post it here, then say absolutely nothing. >_> Of course, I would LOVE to hear feedback from all of my readers, so please, do comment either way!


End file.
